When Life Hands You Spencer Carlin
by Breakmedownx09
Summary: New town. New people. More drama.
1. Ecstasies of Detention

A/N: This is totally an AU fic. And the main POV changes from Spencer to Ashley as the fic progresses.

**Chapter 1: The Ecstasies of Detention**

**Spencer's POV**

I gather all the air I possibly can to scream out at the top of my lungs, "Mom?!" I can't find my jeans that I was supposed to wear today. They couldn't have gone far- I just had them last night. I shove all the moving boxes, making them scatter around the room. It causes my room to look more like a hurricane had just ripped through. "Mom?!" I scream again. I swear, I think she has a hearing problem or at least something that can explain why she isn't answering me. "Mom?!"

"Spencer shut up! Hurry up. You're gonna be late again if you don't!" I hear my brother trying to scream as he chews on his mouthful of cereal.

"Shut up, Glen! I need Mom! I can't find my jeans!" I open my door and yell back as I bend down to look under my bed. "Ah ha. Now I've got you." I quickly jump into my jeans, fasten them, and grab my backpack. The belligerent person I call my brother, gathers with me downstairs.

Glen scoops his last spoon of Coco Puffs and mumbles, "Come on, Spence lets go." I obey his orders and grab a quick breakfast- an apple- and head out to the car.

_Ok, so here's my story since we have a few minutes until we get to school. Traffic seems to be pretty bad today, but if I were to say anything about it, Glen would come up with a slick comment that I would not be able to redeem myself with. So, anyways- I was born in Los Angeles, but moved here just a few days ago- before school started. _This _being Ohio. I haven't unpacked fully, yet because I don't feel quite at home, yet. My parents decided to move us at the worst time possible. I'm a freshman and know absolutely know no one at school. That makes my outlook on my high school career just dandy I've only been going for three days, though. At least in my old town, I would've known a few people. I don't know too many people yet because I haven't taken the time to be outgoing and meet some of my development neighbors. For all I know, there could be kids who go to my school that live around here. I'm not sure I really want to know them, yet. I miss my friends from back home too much to replace them already._

So the only people I know right now are my mom, my dad, and my older brother, Glen, which you have already experienced. Hold on. I have to check the time really quick. 7:58! I can't believe how late it is. School starts in two minutes and we still have a ways to go. I'm gonna be late again. Can you believe I've been late every single day since I've gone here? When I was late the first day, they understood I was in a new environment that was a lot different from where I came from, so they annulled it, but I still haven't gotten used to these schools even though they're a lot smaller than the ones in L.A. They also said that any other tardies after that would be counted. After three tardies, an after school detention is assigned to you. Well, Spencer, it looks like you're gonna to have a new assignment. Sounds like fun.

I was lucky enough to earn after school detention today. The last bell just rang and now I have to get things out of my locker before I go to B-5- the hot and muggy room they call detention. I just realized that it's not only going to be me in the room- it's gonna be all of the bad kids- the ones who deserve to be in detention; the ones who thrive to get in trouble as to dare the school authority. I don't belong in detention. So I guess being late three times automatically gets you time with juvenile delinquents. Wonderful. That just makes me even more thrilled.

I get to the detention room just in time of not being late. I scope out the room to choose a seat- not too close to the drugged out kids, yet not too far from the door so that I can run out as soon as she lets us free. I decide to sit in the last desk, against the wall. I place my backpack on the floor and take in one deep breath. I look around the room a little closer to actually see who I'm going to be with the next hour. There are not too many people here- only 4, including me. One is head-down asleep on his desk; another looks like she's doing her homework; and another is hooked up to his ear-bleeding music. I don't know how people can listen to Metal and especially at that volume. An older lady just walked into the room. Maybe she's the adviser or teacher or tyrant of this occasion. Yea, I see the lanyard with the pass showing she's a part of the school hanging from her neck. She places her things down on her big, well-organized desk and says to the class in a not-so-pleasant tone, "Hello, my name is Mrs. Stark. For those of you who haven't been here before, I will be watching over you, making sure you don't get into any trouble, but first, I have to take attendance." She digs into her tote and pulls out a crimpled paper of names. She takes out the wrinkles and puts on her glasses to read off the names. "Spencer Carlin?"

"Here," I mumble, but also raise my hand to let her know I'm present in case she couldn't hear me.

She stares straight at me and replies monotone, "Good. Uhm... Ashley Davies?" She looks around the room and automatically knows she's not there. She decides to go for it one more time. "Davies, Ashley?" No response again. Who would be so stupid as to get in trouble for detention and not even show up? Boy, that girl must be a lot of trouble to deal with. I think I just found sympathy for the teachers.

"Present," says a girl as she walks nonchalantly through the door with her cell phone at her hands, obviously texting, and a bag dangling on her shoulder. She wasn't what I was expecting to be the "Ashley Davies." She looks a nice girl to get to know. I guess I was expecting a girl whose best friend was marijuana. I gotta stop belittling people- gotta stop thinking this is L.A.

"What makes you late to detention Miss Davies?" Mrs. Stark asks her.

"Um…" she looks around the room, looking for a good excuse to pop into her head. "I'm not sure." She says it, knowing exactly why she was late.

"I'm not going to pay attention to that. Just sit down Miss Davies and don't be a disturbance," she demands sharply. It seems like they met before this day in detention. Perhaps it was in detention yesterday? Ashley obeys her wishes and sets down her cell phone on a desk, just a couple of desks in front of me. Her bag follows her body as she makes her way into her seat. I'm intrigued by her actions, but not exactly sure why. My voyeurism kicks in and I use it towards this girl. Mrs. Stark continues to take roll as I sit there, just staring at Ashley. Her unique design of clothing on her body is fascinating. The dictator continues to take roll, "Michael Griffin." While keeping his head down in his arms on his desk, he raises his hand casually to alert Mrs. Stark of his existence. Ashley examines the students surrounding her, starting around area first. She twirls her body all the way around to view the whole classroom and then turns back to look at me. I quickly look away, in hopes she doesn't catch me staring at her, but no such luck.

At the corner of my eye, I see her smirk due to my reaction towards her. In a very playful voice Ashley says, "Do you always stare at people like that or am I 'the chosen one'?"

I laugh it off in embarrassment and try to come up with enough courage to talk. I clear my throat and finally speak, "No. I just zoned out for a bit. I've never done this before—the whole detention thing." I feel like I was just injected with Botox because I can't get this smile off of my face.

"Well, then welcome back to Earth. I'm Ashley and I will be your tour guide to detention," she says in confidence and ejects her hand out to be shaken by mine.

"Why, thanks. I'm Spencer by the way," I reply with a simple handshake. A moment of silence occurs, but it isn't awkward. Just being with her feels natural. "So you must be an expert at this detention thing if you can guide me through it."

Mrs. Stark finally finishes taking roll and hears the two of use chatting. In a striking tone, she quickly gets our attention, "Ms. Davies! Why must you always be a part of the commotion?"

Ashley turns her head and says in an innocent tone, "I was just trying to be nice to Spencer, here."

"Spencer will do just fine on her own. She doesn't need someone like _you_ to teach _her_ **morals** in life," she snarls at Ashley. By the looks of Ashley's face, what the teacher said had more meaning to it. Ashley's eyes turned to fire as the anger burned in her head. She doesn't act upon it, though because it wouldn't get her anywhere.

Ashley turns around to me and says, "In about ten minutes she's going to say she has to use the bathroom, but I know she goes somewhere else. She usually is gone for the majority of the detention and then comes back the last few-"

Mrs. Stark intrudes on our conversation and threatens Ashley, "Would you like to spend tomorrow in detention?"

"No Mrs. Stark. Ashley turns around in her desk and crosses her fingers, acting like an angel.

I really want to pursue another conversation with this girl. I appreciate how she doesn't give a damn about authority, especially not Mrs. Stark's. I could never have the courage to put on an act like she just did. I watched the clock closely to see if Ashley was right about Mrs. Stark over there.

_Tick, tick, tick._ The ten minutes is up. I haven't done much in time because I'm too lazy to do my homework and I really want to talk to Ashley again. In that time Ashley took out her iPod to help pass the time. I guess iPods in detention are allowed over here because they definitely aren't back in L.A. If I 'd known that I would've brought mine. What am I complaining about? It's only ten minutes.

Will Mrs. Stark even notice? It looks like she's really concentrating on whatever she's doing. She picks up her head from what looks like tests she's grading to look at the clock. Her voice goes off like a timer. She speaks abruptly, "Well, if you kids will excuse me, I have to use the ladies room. But don't you worry- I will be watching you." She beams her eyes at Ashley, implying Ashley was the only troublemaker. That couldn't be possible because then she would only be in the room. Doesn't she understand that?

Mrs. Stark excuses herself from the room, closing the door behind her. She locks it from the outside. _What a b-_. Ashley interrupts my train of thought by saying, "Told you." Ashley collects her things and slides a few seats back to be closer to me.

I snicker and say, "You have been here _way_ too many times."

Ashley smiles, "I know. It's pretty much become my daily ritual."

I shrug my eyebrows and ask, "What do you do so wrong that forces you into detention everyday?"

She hesitates to answer, but does, in a serious tone, "I punched a teacher in the face. I broke her nose. It was an ugly nose anyway. She was due for surgery any day now. I necessarily helped her out."

I'm in complete shock. My jaw drops down far enough to skim the floor. I didn't see her as someone who would just punch a teacher. Well, then again, this is whole different state- things are different around here. I ask, "Really?"

Ashley starts laughing hysterically, "No! You're too gullible!"

I produce a very annoyed face, but can't hold it too long because she's right- I'm so gullible. I confess, "That's not funny. I really thought you did that. You made it look so convincing."

Ashley smiles from ear to ear and says, "Yea, I know." She pauses and then smiles again. "I got you so good."

I admit, "You did. Now are you going to tell me the real reason why you're in detention all the time?

She wipes the smile off her face and says, "The **real** reason is that I purposely ditch first block- English."

"Why?"

"I don't appreciate the way the teacher treats me. I had her last year for English. I was so lucky for her to move up to the high school and get her for a second time. I was even luckier to have detention with her most of the week," she says sarcastically. "She belittles me all the time. I hate it. I don't know why she does it."

I shrug my eyebrows and give her my opinion, "That's not right. **No** teacher should have the power to undermine any student." I stop. "Have you brought it up with anyone- like another teacher?"

Ashley scuffs her voice, "No. What are you kidding? Like they're gonna believe me. Just forget about it. There's no point."

It looks like I might've pushed a wrong button. I anticipate that it doesn't cause her to stop talking to me. I apologize, "I'm sorry. I didn't know-,"

She makes up an excuse, "It's okay. It's only high school" She changes the subject, "So why are you here?"

I laugh, embarrassed by my cause, "I've been late _everyday_—since school started."

"Really? On purpose or one of those 'I can't find my way around the school' excuses?" Ashley asks.

With all honesty I say, "It's not an excuse. I really can't find my way around."

Her facial expressions show she has a solution for me. "I bet I could help you out. Are you a freshman by any chance?"

Would she be able to help me if I wasn't a freshman? "Yea, why?" I ask simply.

"What sending district are you from?"

"I'm actually from L.A."

"Oh. Well that _is_ a big difference."

"Yea it's hard for me to adjust."

Ashley informs me, "Well, I'm a freshman, also. We probably have at least one class together. I assure you, this school isn't too big." She looks down at my backpack. "Do you have your schedule with you by any chance?"

"Uhm…" I look down at my bag, trying to think if I left it in my locker or not. I unzip my bag and dig through my books and papers. "A ha!" I draw the schedule out of my bag and pass it to Ashley. That would be way too perfect if she had at least one class with me.

She examines the schedule for a few seconds. Her eyes widen unexpectedly, almost causing my heart to jump. "I don't think you're going to like this."

"What?" I ask. She turns the paper around and points her finger at my English class. "I'm not quite understanding this. What is so bad?"

"I have a class with you, but it's too bad it's the class I love to hate," she shrugs her mouth.

"So your saying that you have English with me, but we'll pretty much never see each other because you're willing to ditch almost everyday—just because of a dimwit of a teacher?" I ask, in hopes of her not saying yes.

Her thinking face kicks in. Ashley lays the piece on the desk to pull her bangs behind her ears from her eyes. She answers slowly, "That… pretty much…sums it up. Yup" She shakes her head up and down.

"I think you're ridiculous. Just because of a teacher?" I ask as she continues to shake her head. Somehow I'm able to produce an almost ingenious idea. A smile morphs on my face--one similar to Freddy Kruger's. "I have an idea."

Ashley seems frightened, "I'm afraid to hear what it is."

"If you go to English class everyday, then I'll help you prove to that nutcase of a teacher that you're as smart-or smarter- than any other student she teaches," I propose.

Ashley thinks about it a few moments. She finally says, "It's a tempting offer. How are we gonna prove it to her, though?"

She got me there. I come up with a cliché answer, "I don't know. We'll think of something." She checks the clock to distinguish the time. I can't see the time from where I'm sitting because I'm planted against the same wall as the clock. I ask her, "What time is it? Do we have much time?"

She piles her things together and hands back my schedule to me. She says quickly, "No we don't. She should be back any second now." She drops her things on her desk and sinks into her seat.

The door unlocks and in comes Mrs. Stark. She proclaims, "I'm back. I hope you didn't make too much trouble." She rests her keys on her desk and proceeds to congregate her things as well. It must be time to go—she's packing up awfully fast. She announces, "Well, kids, I'm feeling a little nice today. I'm going to let you off free now. There's only a few minutes left—no consequences will be issued." She creates a fake smile and immediately storms out of the room.

I look over at Ashley to see her reaction. She laughs and then turns around to me. She says, "That's a new one." I get up and get together my things. Ashley waits up for me, instead of charging out of the door like the other students. We walk slowly to the exit of the room and she asks, "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

I smile in reassurance, "Yes. And this time I'll be early."


	2. It's A Small World After All

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**Chapter 2**: It's a Small World-After All Spencer's POV

Detention is over and I'm glad to get home again and rest. Thank God it's Friday. I have the whole weekend, after I get my homework done, to just unwind.

After a long, hard day at school or work, my family gathers together to have dinner. To left of me, is my mom, who is seating at the head of the table, graciously, eating her meal. She smiles at me and I do the same. My dad, on the other end, is eating his dinner tranquilly. He usually is the spokesperson at dinner, but tonight seems different. He doesn't pick up his head to look back at me, but I know he knows I'm looking. Something doesn't seem right.

As I gaze around the table to speculate my family, I hear the slurping, chomping, and gulping of Glen's mouth right in front of me. I place my fork down ever so gently on the table and fold my hands together. I stare at his actions, waiting for him to pick up his head and notice I don't like how he's producing so much noise.

After a few moments, he realizes the silence and looks up at me. With a mouth full of food he utters, "What?"

I look down at his plate and start giggling. I respond, "You know, I could get a shovel from the garage. It would be a lot easier for you to shovel food in your mouth."

He opens his mouth to respond, but he stops and washes down all of the food in his mouth. He lets out an enormous burp, which has to be fanned away from my face due to the aroma it created. Finally, he says, "Shut up."

Mom drops her fork at on her plate, causing a loud noise and says to Glen, "Glen, both your burp and your language is not acceptable at the table."

He blurts out an excuse, "But she started!"

She informs, "And how much older are you?"

Another excuse slides out of his mouth, "I'm only two years older than her. That shouldn't justify anything."

"Yes it does- she has a point. Why are you eating so fast?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be meeting this girl tonight. I was hoping I could bring her over later to meet you guys?" he seems to ask and demand at the same time.

"Yea that's fine, Glen. Who's the girl?"

He ponders quite a bit, which explains he doesn't even know her name. He answers, "I don't know, but she's a really cool girl."

I couldn't refuse to say, "Ha figures. Glen can't even take the time to learn the girl's name."

"Spencer," Mom interrupts. She has the disappointed look on the face, cueing me to stop antagonizing Glen.

I apologize, "Sorry, Glen. So when shall we expect you to bring her over?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'm going over her house after dinner and staying there for a little bit. She lives only a few houses away from here, so it won't take long. I'll be back home after that."

"Cool," I say simply. I generate a fake smile and say, "Can't wait to meet her."

***

Dad knocks on my doorway to get my attention. He greets me, "Hey, Spence." Before I can reply, he looks down at my homework I'm working on and asks, "How's the homework coming along?"

I scuff my voice and speak in disgust, "These crazy teachers of mine must have fun giving students tons of homework over the weekend. I bet they have a little game where they all get together and have a contest to see who can give out the most homework on the weekend. Then the winner receives a bonus for that week." Dad just laughs at me for coming up with that assumption. I ask, "What? You think it's funny to give students so much homework over the weekend?" _At least he's acting like himself, now._

He stops laughing and says, "No. I just think it's funny how you've managed to spend time thinking about that while you could've been spending it on getting your homework done."

I squint my eyes, creating an evil look. He has a point, though. I should really be getting my homework -.

"Spencer! Ben! Glen's home!" Mom screams from the foyer. Dad and I look at each other. _It's a race. _I jump from my chair and race Dad to the foyer to be the first one to see this "wonderful" girl. Our feet pounce on the wooden stairs, making the sound echo throughout the whole house.

I focus on my feet as I race down the stairs, not paying attention to anyone standing in the foyer. I reach the end and I brag, "Ha! Beat cha!" My heart's going a mile a minute as I breath heavily, in and out. I turn around to look at Glen, Mom, and the girl staring at me. I take a double take at the girl--_Ashley?_

Her eyes widen at the sight of me, but she doesn't say anything. I look at Ashley in astonishment, almost drooling because I'm in shock. Glen snaps me out of my gaze by saying, "Well are you glad you got that out of your system? Way to make me look good."

Ashley corrects him, "Glen, it's fine. I thought it was funny." She looks at me with a smile and informs, "But I think your dad won. He had his arm stuck out."

With nothing better to say, I say, "Thanks."

"Well enough of this chit chat," Glen interrupts, yet again.

Mom looks at Glen and Ashley and says, "Yes. You two make yourselves at home in the family room. I'll go make some coffee." Mom and Dad march into the kitchen and I follow, not wanting to follow Glen and Ashley because it would be awkward to just sit there with the two of them.

Mom wasn't expecting me to follow so she says, "Oh, hey Spence. What's up?" She grabs the coffee container and a measuring spoon.

I lie, "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to see if you guys needed any help with anything." I twiddle my thumbs.

Dad grabs the coffee pot and fills it with water. He hands it to Mom and interferes, "Oh how nice, but what's really up?" He knows me too well.

I lie again, this time with a serious face, "Nothing, really." I grab a napkin on the table and begin to play with it.

"Ok, whatever you say," Mom says as she scoops the coffee grinds into the prepared pot. "So what do you think of Ashley? She seems like a really nice girl."

I say, "Yea."

--------------------------------------------------------------

_15 minutes later_

Mom carries over the tray of cups while I bring over the milk and sugar and Dad brings over the pot. We settle everything down on the designated coffee table in the family room. I try not to pay attention to how Glen and Ashley are all "cute"-as Mom would call it- together. It just doesn't seem right to me- the two of them together.

Mom, Dad, and I sit divvy up between the two remaining couches and we get comfortable. I mumble to myself, "Here we go." Fortunately, no one heard that so let's press on, shall we?

Dad starts off first, "So, Ashley, are you from around here?"

She smiles and simply says, "Yep, been here all my life."

Mom asks, holding up the pot towards Ashley, "Would you like some coffee?"

Ashley shakes her head, "No, I can't. I just joined the local Coffee Addicts Anonymous program in town so I really can't have coffee."

Mom and Dad are way too gullible to see that as a joke, but Glen and I both know somewhere along that speech, something was altered. Mom has the guts to say, "Really? They actually have those here?" Mom leans back with her coffee in her hands into Dad's arm, cradling her.

Ashley comes clean, "Actually, no. I wish they did because I think I need it. I'm way too addicted to coffee." She stops. "That was just an icebreaker."

She must use ridiculous stories all the time to "break ice." Yet, I don't see that as a negative. I think it takes a lot of creativity to come up with the things she does. She should be a comedian! I would definitely see her perform.

Mom laughs in embarrassment, "Oh. Well, you fooled me."

Dad leans forward, releasing Mom from his arms. He asks, "So besides creating ice breakers, what else do you do?"

She gazes her eyes around the room, thinking. She answers, "Well, I go to school at Liberty High. Then, depending on my schedule, I work at the local deli- Meats n' Eats. Uhm..." She stops.

I like her thinking face it looks…cute? Did I just say that?

She continues, "I like to write, read, drawing. Pretty much anything dealing with artsy things." She stops again. Ashley speaks suddenly, like a light bulb came on, "I write my own music. Well, sort of. I'm trying to. I really like expressing my thoughts and experiences through art or my music. So, I'm thinking of becoming a musician or something. "

Mom and Dad nod their heads as they listen to her monologue. Mom finally says, "I think that's terrific. I think its great how you know what you want and a such a young age." She smiles and directs her words toward Glen, "You really picked a winner."

Glen looks into Ashley's eyes, "I did, didn't I?" He kisses her cheek.

I'm officially disgusted by the whole situation. Glen shouldn't be with her. She's too good for him. She deserves better. Glen can barely care for himself, how could he be able to care for another person. This makes me frustrated and…really sick.

I lay my hands over my stomach, feeling something about to be projected out of my mouth. I ask Mom, "May I be excused?"

Before turning around to look at me she says, "Yea, honey." She turns around to see I don't look too well. "What's wrong?"

In a matter of seconds I'm out of the family room and in the bathroom where I hold my hair back and let my vomit splash into the sink. The aroma fills the air of the petite bathroom. I hear the stomping of feet coming towards the bathroom. Dad enters the confined room with his nose plugged by his fingers. He lets his nose go after he sees me and asks, "Are you okay?"

The last of the vomit is out and I grab a tissue to wipe my mouth. I turn on the sink to wash it all away. I say, "Yea. I'll be fine now."

In a concerned tone he replies, "Are you sure? It's not like you to just get up and do this. Something's wrong. Tell me what's up."

I lie angrily, "Dad, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong, really." I push him off to the side and storm out of the bathroom and into my room. Probably not the smartest decision, but I couldn't stand being around Glen and Ashley's "cuteness."

-------------------------------------------------------------

_Monday _

I get into the class just in time before the last bell rings. I grab the first available seat I see, not paying attention to where I want to sit. Mrs. Stark stands in front of the classroom to start off attendance. I go off in a daze, thinking about random things like English class, Ashley, School…Ashley. For some reason, I can't get her out of my mind. It's probably just because she was the first person to talk to me here and was so nice in doing so that I can't get her out of my mind. "Spencer Carlin," Mrs. Stark says out loud.

I jump out of my daze and answer, "Here."

I can't believe it took me so long to realize who Mrs. Stark was. I had her for English for those three days and then detention, but yet, I didn't see the connection. But now that I know who this teacher is and how she treats Ashley, it'll be interesting to see how she acts in class.

A couple minutes later and the attendance is done. She announces, while the clipboard is still in her hand, "Class, I'm gonna assign you seats today."

_Awesome._ One loud groan is expressed from the whole class, except me.

She continues, "It's gonna be in alphabetical order."

The classroom groans even louder.

She assures, but probably lying, "It'll only be for a little while. It's just so I can get to know my students. I have to learn 75 students names and…"

I lose her at that. I hate when teachers complain about things that involve their lives and, yet, they can't stand when we give it right back. They all think _their _lives are the only ones that are important. If I could find the world's smallest violin, I would play it for all of them just to show how annoying it is for them to rant on about their lives while the students **have** to sit there and listen. If we don't, we get punished. Its amazing- ridiculous authority figures come up with these things.

"Spencer Carlin," Mrs. Stark demands.

I come out of my daze, again, but this time she realized I was in it. I answer innocently, "Yes?"

She replies with an angry tone, "Would you please come and sit behind Mike?"

I take my books and obey her orders. I don't like her tone and I'm sure as hell not going to let her do this all semester.

"Ashley Davies," She demands again.

_Awesome? _I don't know whether to be glad or mad I have to sit next to her. It'll be awkward having to sit next to my brother's girlfriend. But on the other hand, she's so full of life and so great to be around and it only took one detention to realize that.

Ashley dumps her books on the desk, making a loud sound that Mrs. Stark, incredibly, ignores. She immediately starts interrogating me, "So, what happened Friday?"

I don't look at her to see her reaction when I say, "I don't know. It seemed like you were going out with my brother and didn't forewarn me."

She says sharply, "Well excuse me, but how was I supposed to know you two were related. Neither of you told me your last name." She stops to look at me. "Come on. I wouldn't have done it one purpose if I knew you were going to get so mad over it."

I look at her, but give her an angry face.

She says, "If you stay mad at me, then how am I going to 'fight the power'?" She nods her head towards the old lady in the front.

In a monotone voice I reply, "You couldn't." I can't refuse to smile.

She smiles back, "There you go. There's that smile." She pauses. "If it makes you happy, I'll break up with your brother. I'll just use the 'it's-not-you-it's-me' line."

I laugh and say, "No, please don't. My brother seems really happy to be with you. Maybe he'll turn out to be less of a jerk if you stay with him long enough."

"Okay," she says merely. She lightly taps my shoulder to get my attention and says, "Hey we get to hang out more if I stay with your brother."

I totally ignore what she says and say, "Sorry to change the subject, but do we live in the same neighborhood?"

She answers with a question, "Willow Brooke area?"

"Yea."

"Yea. I think Glen told me we're only a few houses away from each other. Isn't that awesome?"

I say slyly, "It sounds dangerous."

-------------------------------------------------------

**Ashley's POV**

"Kyla! Where are you?" I scream into the house as soon as I get in. I wait a few seconds for an answer, but there isn't one. "Kyla!"

Mom walks towards me, wearing her apron and drying her hands with a dishtowel. She answers instead, "She's not home yet. She said she was going to be late because of some senior project she was working on with her friends."

I say in disappointment, "Oh. Do you know when she'll be back?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "I really don't know." I can tell she sees the distress in my face because she asks, "What's wrong, honey?"

"Nothing. I just need to talk to her really quick, but can't because she's not home," I come clean.

"Ash, you can talk to me. I won't bite," she reaches her hand out to stroke my arm.

"I know you won't, but this is something that I need advice from a sister- not a mother who would give advice that would lead to the 'right choice'," I form a fake smile as I hike up the stairs and into my bedroom.

----------------------------------------------

_Later that night _

I have my ear buds to my iPod stuck in my ears. The music protects my ears from any surrounding sounds they might catch. Usually, the consistent beat of a song helps me concentrate on my homework, but not tonight. Tonight I have too many things on my mind and I can't even figure out my homework. It's too complicated for me right now. I'll bother Dad later to help me.

I slide my books over to the other side of the bed so I can lean my head back and rest on my backboard. I slowly close my eyes to just relax for a few moments.

There's a knock at the door along with a slow opening door. Kyla enters the room asking, "Ashley?"

I open my eyes to see Kyla standing in front of me, calling my name. I rip the ear buds out of my eyes. She says, "Mom said you needed to talk to me? She said you looked like something wasn't right. Is everything okay?"

I stutter, "Yea—well, no." I make up a story so I can protect my version of it. "So there's this friend of mine."

Kyla nods her head and says, "Mhm."

I continue, "And she has this boyfriend who is really nice and really outgoing and a lot of fun to be with."

Kyla knows where I'm going with this because she says, "…But?"

"BUT she met this really great girl who is really nice and really outgoing and a lot of fun to be with, but she doesn't know what to do," I bite my lip, waiting for her response.

"Is she gay?"

Ideas rush through my brain of how to answer that. I come up with, "She's not sure. That's why she's confused because she really likes this girl and yet, she really likes her boyfriend."

"Is she attracted to the girl?"

I say this too suddenly and too honestly, "Yes."

Kyla's taken back a little by that. She responds with, "Well, then I think you've gotta tell her to go with her heart. If she feels she would be better off with this girl, who she obviously likes, then she should be with her or vice versa." I tilt my head down in disappointment. _That doesn't help me one bit. _"But also tell her that she'll know, when the time comes, who she needs to be with—who will be the better pick. Everything will be fine."

_If only she were in my shoes. _


	3. Something Smells Fishy Around Here

**The feedback is awesome and very well appreciated. :)**

**Enjoy this update— it's pretty action-packed. ;) **

**Title:** Just the Beginning  
**Author:** Accessdeniedx07  
**Author's Note: **This story is based on real-life experiences, but of course some is dramatized to make it good.  
**Pairing:** Spashley, Ashlen (Ashley & Glen), maybe Ashden later  
**Rating:** R  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.  
**Summary:** The beginnings of Spashley-remade.

**WARNING: This chapter deals with abuse and the f-bomb is dropped a few times. **

Chapter 3: Something Smells Fishy Around Here

_-----------------------------------------------------_

_Previously on When Life Hands You Spencer Carlin _

_Kyla's taken back a little by that. She responds with, "Well, then I think you've gotta tell her to go with her heart. If she feels she would be better off with this girl, who she obviously likes, then she should be with her or vice versa." I tilt my head down in disappointment. That doesn't help me one bit. "But also tell her that she'll know, when the time comes, who she needs to be with—who will be the better pick. Everything will be fine."_

_If only she were in my shoes._

_-----------------------------------------------------_

_2 weeks later_

Spencer's POV

I wake up to the blaring sound of my phone going off. I never understood the purpose of texting or calling someone so early in the morning, when the sun isn't even out. Luckily for this person, the sun is out, so I don't have to hurt them too much.

I look over at my digital clock and clearly read: 10:00 AM. I say with anger, "Who could be calling me _this_early?" I click OK to brighten my phone and read the text message from: ASHLEY. I'll let it slide this time. I click OK to read the message that says: _**Come outside :P**_

While continuously blinking my eyes to see what I'm typing I reply back with: _**Are you crazy? It's too early to even think of going out**___

I close my eyes to fall back asleep, but I am disrupted again. My phone rings again because of another text message. Ashley replied with: _**Come on! Its 10 on a Saturday. Its too late to still be sleeping**___

I can't be angry with her because I do want to talk to her, but I didn't sleep much last night because Guitar Hero is a _very_addictive game. I reply back with: _**What's in it for me?**_I'm trying to drag getting out of bed as long as I can.

This time, I don't even try to close my eyes. I just lay on my bed, waiting for another text message to arrive, demanding me to get out of bed. Ashley takes a little longer to reply this time. It says: _**You get to spend time with me :D**___She won me with that.

I reply back with a simple: _**Ok. I'll be out in ten**__**. **_

Seconds later another text comes saying: _**Cool :) **_**bring a flashlight and a water bottle**

I blurt out, "What could we possibly be doing that requires a flashlight in the middle of the day?"

-------------------------------------------------------

I race downstairs and into the kitchen to grab something quick to eat- and a flashlight. I stumble across two notes on the counter.

I read the first one. It says: _**10-to-10 shift. Be back home after that. Love, Mom**__**. **_

I hate when she gets sudden calls to work at the hospital, especially on the weekends. I barely see her, during the week, as it is.

I tilt my head slightly to view the other note. It says: _**W**__**ent to the gym. Be back in a couple hours. Glen.**___Glen has been doing a lot of "working out" lately. It's beginning to creep me out because I can't see any results and he's been going there _a lot._

I blow it off as I put my shirt on over my tank top. As I'm straightening my shirt, I hear the vibrating sound of a phone. I look to the far left of the counter. It's Dad's phone. "What's it with people texting so early?" Dad's not around so I decide to peak at it to see who it is- just out of curiosity. I look at the front screen of the phone. I read: **Linda txt**

"Who's Linda?" I utter out the side of my mouth. Because I don't recognize who this person is, I settle on looking in his phone to see the message. I flip open the phone to read a very disturbing message.

---------------------------------------------------------

_Outside_

"Hey Spencer," she greets me with open arms. I accept the hug, but wonder why she's acting like this—all peppy. She holds me for a few seconds and then releases. She senses that I'm not too happy. She asks with concern, "What's wrong Spence?"

I don't want to tell her just yet what's on my mind. I reply simply with, "Nothing." I look down at the ground and pause. "So what are we doing, out here?"

"I want to show you something," she says mysteriously. She waves her hand, guiding me to follow her.

We walk a ways down the street in the development. We don't talk to each other on the way because I don't want to talk and I like the silence. Well, silence between the two of us, but all around are hammers, and saws, and tractors…oh my! They're adding on a new development to the previous one.

In about five minutes, we finally stop at a vastly open space that is made up of…grass. Its all grass. I ask, "What are we supposed to do here?"

She says calmly, "Patience, child." She begins to walk into the basin. She notices I haven't moved an inch. She says, "Come on. You won't get hurt, I promise."

I do as I'm told and begin to walk into the basin. At the deepest part of the hollow indent in the ground, there is concrete opening to a tunnel. She stops and says, "Here we are."

The tunnel is nothing short of a terrifying, shady tunnel. I'm waiting for bats to start flying out. I peak my head in a little farther without putting a foot into the tunnel. I don't like this place at all. I ask with anxiety, "You don't expect me to go in there, do you?"

She tries to comfort me, "Don't worry. I've been in here a million times." She sees the distress in my face and immediately says, "Come on. I really wanted to show you this and it would be a real bummer if you backed out like a chicken." She frowns.

"Why do you want me to go so bad?" I ask in effort to postpone going into the tunnel as long as possible.

She sighs, "Because I've done this with all of my friends before and we always had a blast."

I give in, "Ugh. Fine, I'll go, but the second I hear a bat, I'm running."

She smiles broadly, "Cool. Let's go." She begins to walk and turns on her flashlight. She nods towards my flashlight and says, "Turn yours on." I begin to walk hesitantly. We finish the first tunnel like it was a piece of cake. To the right of us is the next one. She asks, "Are you ready?"

I nod my head for her to proceed down the next one. I embark on the next terminal, which is a tiny bit smaller than the previous one, but not small enough for me to hunch over.

_*10 minutes later*_

It seems that there is a sewer opening at the top of every end of the tunnels. The bright light shines through and into the underground paths. Also, I noticed that at each end, there is a little "sitting area" and a ladder leading up into the real world. I ask when we stop, "Is this like one big sewage lining or something? Because if I start seeing _you know what_flowing down towards us, I'm gonna kill you."

She laughs, "No. I don't think sewage runs through here. I think _water_, like when there's a storm, it streams through here."

I nod. I start to think about it a little more. I say, "Well there better not be a storm anytime soon."

She looks at me with a confused face, "Why? We're not even close to reaching the end. We would still have time to get out if anything were to happen." She pauses. She points up to the sewer and points out, "Does it look like it's gonna rain anytime soon?" I look up at the sky. It was absolutely beautiful. There is not a cloud in the sky, so there is no way a storm will affect us anytime soon. She looks at me and asks, "Are you done complaining? Can we continue?"

"Yea."

She warns me, "It's gonna get a lot smaller really soon and it's gonna get tough. I strongly advise holding hands because we actually lost a few men out there because no one was "man enough" to hold hands."

I smirk, "That's not funny."

She confesses, "No, it's not, but I've found out that holding hands really helps getting through theses tunnels."

I scuff my voice, "Whatever you say." We put our water bottles in our jean pockets to have the extra hand for "hand holding."

I grab her hand as she leads me through the next tunnel. We walk slowly through this one. I think Ashley wanted me to get used to the confined scene we were going to be in. She stops shortly at the end of this one and says, "We're almost there. Only a couple left."

She snatches my hand to run me through the last three tunnels. We stop at the last one and I almost collapse to the floor. I didn't know running while hunched over was so excruciating. Ashley sits down on a step on the ladder leading to the street. She doesn't seem to out of breath-compared to me- but she pulls out her water bottle to quench her thirst.

The tunnel all of a sudden seems really hot to me, but it's probably just the fact that I was running as fast as possible down a few tunnels. I feel the sweat dripping down my face and I immediately get disgusted. I check the back of my shirt to see if it soaked through, but it hadn't yet. Good thing I used Secret deodorant—I didn't have to worry about my pits.

I breathe deeply as I look over at Ashley who seems to be in deep thought about something. She doesn't even look tired. She must've done this more times than I presumed. I take a seat on the edge of the previous tunnel. I bring my knees up to face and rest my arms on my knees.

Because of the quietness, I begin to think about the text message I read earlier. If I hadn't read it, I wouldn't be so concerned over it. Yet, if I never read it, I wouldn't have found out what I know.

She doesn't look at me when she says, "I used to come down here with my best friends last summer. All the time."

I'm reluctant to ask, "What happened?"

She confesses, "Two of them moved away- one to Florida and one to Maryland." She pauses and rubs the tip of her nose while still concentrating on the wall. "The other is still here and we keep in touch, but it's not like it used to be." She shakes her head.

I try to comfort her, "I'm sorry."

She finally looks at me and says, "It's fine, really. Things happen for a reason, so I just have to accept it." She coughs. "Hey, if they hadn't moved away, I might not have met you." She smiles.

I shake my head and say, "No, I don't think so. I think God would've found another way for us to meet other than detention if he really wanted us to meet." She laughs. There is a few moments of silence and I jump on it to abruptly say, "My dad's having an affair."

Ashley doesn't say anything for a while because it was really abrupt. She probably doesn't even know how to react, but neither would I if I were in her shoes. She asks, "How do you know?"

"Before I came outside, I read my dad's text message from _Linda_that said: _**Babe, I miss you so much**__. _

Ashley tries to help by saying, "Maybe it was a mistake?"

I shake my head, "No, I definitely don't think it was a mistake. He's been acting really weird lately, but I never thought this would be the reason why."

Ashley's mouth drops even further. She says with honesty, "Spence, I don't even know what to say."

I look at her to assure her. I say, "Don't worry, you don't have to say anything. Just you being her, listening to me, is good enough."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I get home around 1 to find Dad sitting on the couch, watching TV. He greets me when I walk towards him, "Hey Spence."

I drop my things on the counter and angrily reply, "Hey."

He asks in a confused tone, "What's up with you?"

I don't waste anytime. I demand, "You better tell her or I will."

I hear him get up from the couch. He turns off the TV. He sounds really confused or he's just faking it. He asks, "Tell who what? What's going on Spencer?"

I try to hold the tears back as I turn around to look at him. I scream, "Who the hell is Linda!" Tears, now, run full force down my face. All I can do is wipe them away to make room for new ones to come falling down.

His eyes widen. He knows I've caught him, but he tries everything to defend himself. He stutters over his own words, which also tell me he's lying, "It's just a friend from work."

I yell back, "Don't lie to me, Dad! I saw the text message this morning! How could you do this to Mom-- to us!"

He tries to calm me down with another lie, "It was just a one time thing. Nothing else." Was he expecting that to make me feel better?

I sniffle, "How can I believe you! The text message says everything. You're obviously in love with another woman!" He has nothing to say because he knows I'm right. I threaten him, "You better tell Mom or I will. She needs to know." I pause. "And so does Glen."

He looks at me seriously and sighs.

--------------------------------------------------------------

6:30 pm

We all are settled in our seats at the table, eating our dinner. Everyone is subdued, which is making it even harder for me to not burst out the secret. Dad drops his fork on the table and crosses his fingers. He clearly says, "I have an announcement to make."

I know what he's about to say so I try to stop him in his tracks. I say, "Dad, not now."

He waves his hand towards me in a calming way. _How ironic__. _He says, "No, Spence. I think it needs to be said now."

Mom becomes concerned immediately. She scrunches her eyebrows and asks, "Ben, what's going on?" She looks back and forth at Dad and me.

He rests his head on his hands. He rubs his hair, showing he's in distress. "Listen, Paula, I don't know how to say this but-"

I cut him off, "Dad's having an affair."

Mom looks at me like I'm acting ridiculous. She laughs and says, "Why would you say something like that?"

Dad says seriously, "Because it's true."

She stares at him in awe. She says angrily, "What?"

Glen jumps in, "Dad that's not true, is it?"

Dad starts to cry. He has no right to cry. Mom should be the one shedding tears. He calmly says, "I'm so sorry, guys."

Mom starts to cry, "You're having an affair?! Why!"

He stops crying to speak. "I don't think I'm in love with you anymore, that's all," he says honestly.

Mom stands up from the table, showing her supreme rage. She screams, "That's all?! Having an affair while you're married with two kids affects more than the fact that you're just not in love with me anymore!" She stops herself. She calmly says, "How could you do this?"

Dad quickly looks at me. He stands up and inches closer to me, but I'm not intimidated. He begins to yell, "None of this would've happened if you weren't so God damn nosy!"

I stand up and yell back, "You're blaming this on _me_? It wasn't my decision for you to fuck another woman!"

Next thing I know, I get a 40- yr old masculine hand colliding with my face.

Besides the fact that I was forced to take a couple steps back after the hit due to the force, I was also _taken back_ by that. My dad had never hit me or even got that close to doing so. It was the same with Glen. I can't believe he just did that. I immediately begin to sob. I can't stand to be in the same room as any of them. I run out of the room and out of the house, capturing my jacket on the railing, on the way out.

Mom shrieks. She looks at Dad and screams, "Get the fuck out! Right now!"

I run around the to side of the house to hide from everyone. I can still hear the screams through the wall.

Dad says, "Paula let's just talk about this."

Glen screams, "Get away from her!"

I cry even harder, thinking about Dad inching closer to her and what he'd do to her. I whimper out, "Oh my God."

He must be getting closer to Mom because I hear Glen scream, "Dad, if you don't leave right now, I'm gonna call the cops!"

Dad screams back, "You wouldn't do that to your own father, Glen."

Glen yells, "You wanna bet!"

That must've got Dad out of the house because a few moments later I feel the door slam the house. He races out to his car to speed off into the distance.

I get my phone out to call the only person I feel safe with, as of now.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Ashley's POV

I walk upstairs from the basement to magnificent smell of dinner. I walk around the corner and greet Mom, "Hey Mom."

She looks over and smiles, "Hey Ash."

I ask, "What smells so good?"

She smiles even wider, "We're having your favorite—shrimp scampi."

Mom makes the absolute best shrimp scampi in the whole world. Well maybe not the _whole_ world, but definitely a good majority of it. I grin, "Awesome." I see that she's racing around the kitchen. She probably needs help so I offer some, "Do you need help?"

As she drains the macaroni she replies, "Yea sure. I could always use some help. And it's always a pleasure to cook with you." I smile as I walk around to grab a hold of the colander to release it from Mom's worries.

*

We all sit at the dinner table, eating peacefully. Mom starts off by asking Kyla, "How's your senior project going?"

She replies, "Well it's not really a _senior _project anymore because a few juniors have joined and hopefully people from other grades will join."

I ask, "What is it that you're doing again?"

She answers, "We're trying to get a Gay-Straight Alliance going on in our school."

Dad jokes, "Are you trying to tell us something?"

Mom corrects him, "Raaaife."

He replies sarcastically, "Chriiistine."

Kyla looks at him with an annoyed face, "No, Dad. Come on I have a boyfriend."

He answers, "Oh really? Who's the lucky chap?"

She stutters, telling us-or just me- that she's lying, "You don't know him. He goes to a different school."

Mom jumps in, "Oh. Well, you should bring him over sometime.'

Kyla smiles to please Mom, "Yea sure." She pauses. "When I think he's ready enough for this family." She scuffs her voice.

Mom turns to me and asks, "Speaking of boyfriends. How is Glen doing lately?"

At the corner of my eye, I see Kyla drop her head down, but not far enough to be noticeable to anyone else. I reply adequately, "He's fine."

She looks at me worriedly, "That's all? Just _fine_?"

I don't make the best choice when I reply rudely, "Yes, Mom. Just fine."

Dad hops in, "Don't talk to your mother that way."

I apologize, "Sorry, Mom." I pause. I come up with an excuse, "There's just a lot on my mind lately."

Mom replies with concern, "What's wrong, honey? "

I lie, "Nothing."

Dad jumps in, "Ashley, there must be something wrong because you've been acting weird lately. Mom's really worried about you."

I use an excuse to protect myself, "It's just that my friend told me today that she thinks her dad is having an affair."

Mom gasps. "Is she certain of it?"

I reply quickly, "That's what I asked her. She said she was sure because of a text message she read on his phone."

She gasps again. "That's terrible." She lets a few moments of silence go by. "That's so sad. I hope everything turns out well for her."

***  
It's a tradition in our house to sit around the dinner table after we're done eating. We take the time to talk about what's on our mind, what's new, etc. This usually goes on for a good half an hour – forty-five minutes. The record was about an hour. After our talking session Kyla and I alternate every other night, helping Mom and Dad with the dishes. Tonight is my night and I'm not too thrilled about it, but I have to because it's my job.

Half way through doing the dishes, I feel my phone vibrate in my pants. I know that when it's a text, it rings one time, shortly. If it's a phone call, it rings multiple times and for a long time.

I'm drying the dishes so I decide to wait to see whether it's a call or a text. I'll wait until I'm done with the dishes to read the text, but I'll answer if it's a call.

Soon enough, I realize it's a call. I drop the dishtowel on the counter and take my phone out of my pants. I see that it's Spencer. I wave my phone at Mom and get her attention, "Mom, I gotta take this real quick."

She nods her head in approval.

I go into the foyer because no one is occupying that area. I open my phone and greet, "Hey Spence. What's up?"

Spencer replies, sobbing, "Ashley can you please come outside?"

I immediately get concerned when I hear her crying. I ask with concern, "Spencer? What's wrong?"

"_Nothing. I just need to be with someone right now and…please?" _she begs.

There is no way I would deny her. I need to help her out so I need to figure out a way to get out of the house. I say, "Okay, Spence. Where do you want me to meet you?"

"_Your patio—in the backyard," she says quickly. "I don't want anyone to see us."_

I try to ease her, "Okay, Spence. I'll be right there. Wait for me."

I hang up the phone and put it in my pocket. I walk towards the kitchen. I come up with an excuse to leave the house. I lie, "Mom, I need to get something out of the car real quick. Can I have your keys?"

She approves, "Yea, sure. You know where my keys are." I run into the laundry room to grab my coat. She yells to make sure I hear, "But when you get back I expect these dishes to get dried!"

I just agree with her, "Okay Mom!" 

I head out the door as quickly as I can to wrap around my house to see Spencer still sobbing. The motion- detected light turned on when Spencer came over. I instantly notice the red mark on Spencer's face. I run over to her and just hug her. I hold her to show how much I care about her and would always be there for her.

As soon as she realizes I won't let go, she lets herself go by crying— hard.

After a good minute she breaks away from me. She confesses, "My dad hit me." She pauses. "And he's having an affair."

My jaw drops. All I can say is, "Oh my God, Spencer."

She shakes her head, "I didn't know what to do. I stormed out of the house, not what to do or where to go. I didn't want to bother you. I'm sorry for bombarding on your, probably peaceful, night. I just needed to talk-"

I comfort her, "Spencer, listen to me. This is more important than anything that I was or could've been doing." I pause. "Don't ever once think that I would take any- or thing- over you. You're my best friend." She doesn't say anything, but I know that really helped her and made her calm down. She wipes away the tears from her face. I demand more than suggest, "You're staying at my house. I don't care what you say. I'm not letting you in that house today. I'll just let my parents know you're staying over and they'll be fine with it. I'll lend you my clothes for the night—it's fine. " I stop. "Just don't come into my house with tears or even residue of tears because you won't want that. My family is known for questioning the _you know what_ out of people."

That gets her to smile. I smile back and say, "There you go. There's that smile."

I give her a few moments to clear her mind and tears. I lead her to the front of the house- where she will be safe—at least for one night.


	4. How Far Are You Willing To Go?

**Author's Note:** The whole "going to the gym thing" with Glen, forget about it. I was supposed to create a storyline with that, but I forgot about it and went a different route.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**WARNING**: This chapter contains extreme violence

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Previously on When Life Hands You Spencer Carlin _

That gets her to smile. I smile back and say, "There you go. There's that smile."

I give her a few moments to clear her mind and tears. I lead her to the front of the house- where she will be safe—at least for one night.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 4: How Far Are You Willing to Go**?

_Sunday, __1:00 pm_

**Glen's POV**

I ask a fellow classmate, "Are we supposed to color the words purple or blue?"

He turns to look at me cause I got his attention, "That one?" He looks at my poster with a confused look. He analyzes it a bit. He finally says, "I don't know."

I scuff my voice and use sarcasm, "Thanks Sean. You're a lot of help."

_How the hell am I supposed to know what colors to use? _I look around the room to look for my girl—she'll tell me what colors to use, but I can't find her. _Where is she? She was supposed to be here an hour ago. Why did she think leaving me in charge was a good idea? _I look around the room one more time, hoping this time I spot her. I give up. I'm just gonna pick whatever colors I grab.

I walk over to the table with all of the art supplies. I stick my hand into the container of markers. I pull out a handful of makers while other markers seem to fly out as well, creating a mess I inevitably have to clean up.

I bend over to pick up the markers that were so lucky to hit the floor. I hear a familiar feminine voice say, "Thanks for mooning me Glen." She chuckles. I pick up the last marker and stand up.

I turn around to see its Chelsea. I say, trying to not smile, "Ha-ha. Very funny Chels." I drop the markers, without looking, into the can with a hint of anger.

She says with a snicker, "I thought it was funny." I keep my eyes on Chelsea as one rebellious marker drops on the floor. I groan immediately. She says in a sarcastic tone, "Aw. Is Glen having a bad day?"

I say, "I wouldn't even be here if you didn't drag me. And who gets a group together on a Sunday anyway?" I bend over, cautiously, to pick up the marker. My hand bumps another as I reach for it. I look up at whose hand I hit, accidentally. It's a brown-haired beauty. I stare at her beautiful brown eyes and immediately get hooked in. They look familiar. We almost instantly say at the same time, "Sorry." We laugh it off in embarrassment. I see Chelsea excuse herself at the corner of my eye.

She's the first one to say something. She says in her cute voice, "I'm sorry are you new here cause I haven't seen you around?"

I admit, "I've been going to Liberty about a month? But only been a part of the Gay-Straight Alliance group for a couple days." Her question causes me to think. That's never good. I make a confused look. She begins to laugh. I ask as my voice breaks, "What?" She begins to laugh hysterically. _What is so funny?_Her laughter causes me to start laughing. I ask as I chuckle, "What's so funny?"

After a few moments, she finally calms down. She catches her breath before speaking. She says, "I didn't know a simple question could be so hard to answer." There's a pause. She tries to explain herself, "That face you made—Oh my God." I give her a smirk. She continues, "And I didn't know you knew how to break your voice." She holds back a smile.

I say seriously, "That's not funny." That cues her to be serious about the situation.

She says in a cute tone, "Oh but you do it so well."

I gather all of my things together as I joke, "I'm due in Cleveland next week, if you want to see me perform." I begin to walk away.

She stops me, "How about I get your name first?" I turn around and obviously give her a face that doubts her question. "If that's alright with you?"

I say in a sneaky tone, "How about I get yours first?"

She agrees, "Okay, fine. My name's Kyla. And yours, oh sneaky one?"

I say in a lively tone, "My name's Glen."

It's her turn to create a confused look. She says, "Glen. That sounds familiar." She blows it off. She reaches out her hand to shake mine. "Nice to meet you, Glen."

I say sincerely, "Nice to meet you, too." I wait as she grabs a handful of markers to realize what she's doing. I offer, "Uhm…do you want to color with me?"

She looks at me, a little shocked. She says playfully, "Aw you sound like a five year old with a crush." She smiles at me. Maybe I do have a crush, but maybe it wouldn't be right, Glen. "Yes, I'll color with you." We walk over to an open area to lay our markers and posters on the ground.

After ten minutes of coloring, I drop my marker on the floor to pick up my poster. I analyze what I've accomplished so far. Eh, not too bad. A couple seconds later, Sean walks over to me, asking for a favor. He taps me on the shoulder. He asks in a friendly tone, "Hey can you help me hang up something?"

I say simply, "Yea, sure." I pick myself up from the floor. I look down at Kyla whose looking at me with a puppy dogface. I say in a high-pitched tone, "I'll be right back." I smile at her.

I walk over to where there is a bunch of posters and a stepladder. Sean points to the posters as an obvious "come on" gesture. I do what he asks and I get up on the ladder, grabbing a poster on the way up. I reach the top and place the poster in a designated spot. I ask, "Is this good?"

He looks anxious as he says, "A little to the right." I move the poster as he asked. "So uh, I thought you already had a girlfriend, Glen."

He caught me off guard with that. Does he know something I don't? I trust Sean. He's one of the few people I respect at Liberty and I feel it's mutual. What does he know that I don't?

I ask seriously, "Dude, what are you talking about?" I tape the poster down. I reach out my hand for Sean to hand another one to me.

As he hands me over the poster, he whispers in an angry tone, "Kyla! You idiot." He looks around the room to see if anyone heard him, but no one did.

I say dumbfounded, "Kyla? Kyla and I are just friends or whatever. I'm not sure what we are right now. I just met her for Christ sakes!"

He replies quickly, "Are you crazy? It's so obvious! You like her! I can tell."

I put up the poster. I blow him off by saying, "Oh please. I do not like her." Maybe I do, though. It's too early to decide.

He scuffs his voice as he looks around the room, "Yea. Keep telling yourself that. Maybe you'll end up believing yourself."

"Pfft." Maybe he has a point.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kyla's POV

I barge into Ashley's room to see her and Spencer, sitting on the floor, talking. I disregard their talking session and ask, "Ash, can I talk to you for a second?"

Ashley gives me a really disgusted look. She rudely says, "Can it wait?"

I stand at the doorway, like a little kid and begin to squirm. I say, "No, it can't." I notice she doesn't budge so I grab her arm to pull her off the floor. I run into the bathroom with her. As soon as both of us are securely in there, I lock the door.

She asks rudely, "What is so important that you had to drag me out of my room and away from Spencer?"

I blurt out, "Just shut up. I need to talk to you about something." I pause. "I met this really cute boy today and he's just so adorable and really nice and oh I think I'm in love."

Ashley says, "Okay?"

I say, "That's it."

"Ugh," comes out of her mouth. "That's what you had to say?"

I nod my head.

She pushes my body to the side to exit the bathroom. As she walks down the hall she says, "What a waste of time."

No it wasn't. It was important to me and she needed to hear. She does that to me all the time so I have the right to do the same. Ugh she's so self-centered.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Around 6:00 pm

**Spencer's POV**

I can't believe how great Ashley has been with all that just happened over the past two days. She's been so caring and so patient with me crying my heart out and all that stuff. She's such a good best friend.

Her parents allowed me to stay over for the weekend. Mom agreed with it because she wants to make sure everything is safe before I go home again. From what I've been told, Dad didn't go home last night and hasn't been home since. I hope he doesn't come back anytime soon.

Ashley and I are in her bedroom, studying for an English vocab test that's occurring tomorrow. I always get worried about vocab tests simply because some teachers like to make us write the definitions and some give us a break and give us multiple choice or matching. This is our first vocab test so we don't know the format of it and I'm scared out of my mind. I guess Stark never gave out vocab tests because even Ash doesn't know the format.

Ashley taps me on the arm to get my attention. I turn my head to look at what she wants. She says, "I'm thinking about getting my tongue pierced."

My mouth drops to the floor instantly. The first thing that pops into my dirty head: Maybe I could try it out sometime… Spencer! All I can say is, "Really?"

She makes a thinking look. She says, "Maybe. I'm not sure." She changes the subject. "Hey, do you want to go to a football game tonight? Me and a bunch of people were planning on going. And it'll get your mind off things."

Football game? I say confusedly, "Football game?"

"Yea. The game where the old pigskin is thrown around."

"I know what football is, but back in LA, the big thing was basketball. Football was just another sport boys played. And aren't games on Fridays? Today's Sunday."

Ashley replies quickly, "Games are usually on Fridays, but there's always one game on a Sunday that the boys play. Don't ask me why. It sounds really retarded, but it goes well with our school."

I agree because I have to take a break from studying. "Fine. How are we gonna get there?"

She says, "I'll just ask Kyla to bring us. She'll do it."

***

"Okay. So I'll pick you guys up at 9?" Kyla asks as we get out of the car.

Ashley replies simply, "Yea that's good." Kyla drives off as Ashley leads me towards the bleachers. We walk towards that group and Ashley immediately greets them. "Hey guys!"

They all say at once, "Hey Ash."

Ashley looks over at me and introduces me to the gang. "Spencer, this is Shannon. Shannon this is Spencer," she points to a petite girl with blonde hair and a pink streak going down the side. It's appealing, for some reason.

"Hey," we say at once to each other. We smile.

"This is Danielle," she points to a girl with pin-straight brunette hair. It looks too perfect. She's pretty cute you know, for someone who likes that. Spencer what's going on with you lately? We greet each other. "And last but, not least, this is Aiden." She points to a pretty tall guy with what seems like an imitation Emo haircut. He gives me the "You're cute" look. That's disgusting. He barely knows me and probably is trying to get in my pants. Guys can be so gross. But, nevertheless, I greet him just to please Ashley.

I analyze the three people that I had seen and for some reason, I don't want to be with them. It's not like I hate them or anything because that would be ridiculous. But I feel I just want to be with Ashley, alone. I like my alone time with her. It's probably just because I know her the best, so far.

Danielle suggests, "Well are we just going to stand here or are we going to watch the game?"

No one answers; we just begin to walk onto the bleachers. It must be the "in thing" to walk to the very top of the bleachers and sit there because we did that and it seems people from our grade did that, too. We reached the top and I decide to sit on the very top row. Shannon and Aiden follow me; Ashley and Danielle sit in the row right beneath us. Ashley sits right in front me while Shannon sat next to Aiden. They must be going out because they're acting so coupley, but it's none of my business so I'm not going to ask.

***

I chatted with Danielle a little bit and she seems like a really cool person. I also got to talk to Aiden and Shannon-when they weren't attached at the lips, which was not too much. They're pretty cool, too, but I think I had a slightly better connection with Danielle. I bet I would get to know Aiden and Shannon better if they would just separate once and a while.

The game is about halfway through, which is good because it's about 8. I never knew a school could be so enthusiastic about football, until I came here. I was actually getting into the game, but it's especially cold and I'm losing concentration on the game. I think I'm starting to lose feeling in my feet.

Ashley leans back towards me to lay her back on my knees. She looks up at me and says in a sweet tone, "I'm not hurting you or anything, right?"

I shook my head. She positions herself back on me. Our bodies are working together to create such intense heat. I think my feet finally defrosted. It may not mean anything, but having her body touching me, makes me feel comfortable. It feels right. That's good, right? I'm so fucking confused.

I started to play with her hair. I twist my fingers through her silky curls. It's just keeping me busy. I never realized how soft her hair was until now. Well, I've never actually touched it. There's a first time for everything. Ha-ha. A few more minutes with that and I'm bored. I need to stretch my legs out otherwise I'm not going to have feeling in them soon. I gently lift Ashley off of my legs as I stand up. Ashley turns around and asks concernedly, "Is everything okay?"

I assure her, "Yea. I'm just gonna walk around a bit."

She asks, "Do you want some company?"

I agree. "Sure."

I walk past the lovebirds and say jokingly, "Get a room!"

I see the smile in Aiden's face when he flips me off, so I know he was joking.

There is a little trail that goes around the bleachers. Ashley guides me along the path. We are silent with each other. I begin to rub my arms, making the "I'm cold" gesture. Ashley notices and unzippers her hoodie and hands it to me. I reject it, "No you're going to be cold, then."

She assures, "No I won't. I'm really hot right now and you need it. Take it."

I take it, but only because I'm freezing. I say, "Thanks." I wrap the jacket around myself and immediately get the breeze of Ashley's scent. It smells so good. I right away feel the warmth from the jacket being on my body. It feels so warm. It feels like home.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Glen's POV**

Mom and I are sitting at the dinner table, eating a peaceful meal. Spencer is still at Ashley's house because Mom wants her to be there until or if Dad moves out. I'm really proud of Mom for standing her ground and not allowing Dad to come back. I never want to see that prick again. I know that's bad, considering it's my "dad" I'm talking about, but anyone who even thinks of cheating on their own spouse is a prick. And he hit Spencer. What kind of dad does that to his own daughter? I don't think I can call him my dad anymore. I've lost all respect for him.

Mom seems very glum. It's most likely due to events that happened in the last couple of days. I sit contently, eating my dinner, not saying a word because I don't want to spark something I might regret.

Seconds later, I hear someone barge into the house. A masculine voice yells, "I'm home!" I know exactly who that is. Oh my God. Don't walk over here, please. Mom literally jumped up in her seat. Her eyes bulge out at me. She acts as calm as she can while he walks towards the kitchen. I whisper to Mom, hoping Ben doesn't hear, "Mom leave, now. Just go." She looks at me, but doesn't listen to my requests. I scream, "Go!" She still doesn't listen. Does she want to get hurt?

Ben enters the kitchen with a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels. It's blatant that he's drunk and I hope he's not an abusive drunk. That would be too perfect. He says, "Hey guys." He wobbles his hips, trying to get his balance. Mom and I don't say a word. He examines the both of us. He asks, "Where's Spencer?"

I yelled, "At Ashley's house! Away from you!" I looked him straight in the eyes.

He looked at me with a furious face. He said, "What did you say?"

I said, "She's at Ashley's!"

He takes a swig of his alcohol and nods his head. He looks at me with an evil face. He threatens, "You're gonna be sorry you talked to me that way." He proceeds to walk to the front door. A couple seconds later, we hear the door shut. We're safe-for now.

I look over at Mom to see her reaction. She looks like a train had just hit her. She has her eyes fixed on a certain place on the table. I ask with concern, "Mom, are you all right?"

She shakes her head. She finally looks up at me. She says, "Glen I really don't know what to think."

I run to the front door to lock it, making it a little safer for us.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Ashley's POV**

We step through my house and head towards the family room because I know my parents will be there. My parents are sitting on the couch, snuggled up against each other. They can be so embarrassing sometimes. I greet them, "Hey, we're home."

Dad says, "Hey guys. How was it?"

I say an adequate answer, "It was okay. We won." I had an amazing time. I realized that I think I like Spencer. In a more-than-a-friend sort of way. I really feel Spencer and I clicked at the game, but that could've just been just hopes.

He answers, "Oh well that's good. What are you guys up to now?"

I reply quickly, "Bed probably. I'm beat."

He says a little disappointedly, "Oh okay. Well goodnight girls."

We both say, "Goodnight."

Spencer says before we walk up the stairs, "Thanks again for letting me stay over. I appreciate it so much." You know, she can be so cute sometimes with her little act, yet sometimes she just over does it. This was one of those times.

I scuff my voice, "Let's go."

We walk upstairs to get ready for bed.

***

3:00 am

"Spencer!" I hear a masculine voice call that isn't Dad's. "Spencer!" He says in an angry tone that scares the crap out of me. Spencer and I jump up from the bed and walk to the top of the stairs to see what's going on. We reach the open area and Spencer's eyes grow large. The man immediately notices us standing where we are. He looks drunk or at least damn well close to it.

Dad and Mom are down their, trying to ease the situation. Mom looks at us and says, "Stay up there."

Dad says, "Now Mr. Carlin, I would gladly let Spencer come down here to talk to you, but only if you calm down."

I whisper to Spencer, "Spencer, is that your dad?"

Her mouth has dropped considerably. She nods her head.

Mr. Carlin yells, "No. I want my daughter, here, right now!" He looks up at Spencer. "Spencer, get down here now!"

She, unexpectedly yells, "No!" She gets sharp with him. "Why would I go home? So you can beat me again?"

Mom's tone gets a little higher, "Girls, go into your room. Please." We don't obey because kids have curiosities and are very nosy, especially in these kinds of situations.

Dad says, "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave, Mr. Carlin." He slowly begins to push him out of the house.

He screams, "Don't you lay one fucking hand on me again!" He looks up at Spencer with a crazed look in his eyes. "Spencer get your fucking ass down here now!"

Dad says a little louder, "Mr. Carlin, if you don't leave right now, I'm going to call the cops."

Mr. Carlin antagonizes my father, "Oh really, huh?" He quickly reaches into the inside of his jacket to pull out a handgun. Everyone gasps at the gun.

I whisper to Spencer, "Let's go, right now into my room." She must be in such great shock because she isn't moving. I say one more time, "Spencer, let's go." She still isn't moving. Her eyes are stuck on her dad and the gun.

Mr. Carlin screams, "I want my daughter and I want her right now!"

Dad tries to lower the tensions. He says, "As I told you before, I will gladly let Spencer talk to you, but only if you drop the gun and calm down considerably."

Mr. Carlin begins to huff and puff with anger. He stares at Dad with an even crazier look. Without looking at where he points it, she shoots his gun towards where Spencer and I are standing.

Spencer and I scream at the sound of the shot. Spencer quickly lets out a big groan and drops to the floor. I look over at her and see blood dripping from the side of her body. Her eyes are barely open. I scream, "Spencer!" I don't move closer to her because I'm afraid if I do, he'll shoot again.

My parents stand there, speechless. Neither of them tries to do anything because he might shoot again. We all stare at him, waiting for his next move. Spencer lets out another groan and begins to cough furiously. She breathes out, "I can't breath."

I say, "Spencer stay with me. We'll get you help, I promise."

Mr. Carlin realizes what he just did and starts to turn the gun towards himself. He points the gun at his head and cocks it back. Not a second later, the gun goes off and his limp body drops to the floor. We all scream. Spencer breathes out again, "I can't breath." That one sounded a little weaker.

I yell, "Call an ambulance. Now!" I turn to Spencer. I say in a calm tone, "Spencer stay with. Stay with me."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	5. Dream A Little Dream Of Me

**Awesome reviews guys! :D **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

_Monday _

Ashley's POV

My parents sent me to school today, despite the events of last night. They felt it wasn't going to do me any good, sitting at home all day, waiting to hear how Spencer is. What do they know? Don't they know Spencer's a pretty big part of my life and by sending me to school, is only going to make me feel worse? Parents.

English was ten times worse today because Spencer wasn't there to keep me somewhat sane during Mrs. Stark's lectures. I swear, I almost strangled that woman today, but I kept picturing Spencer yelling at me for even thinking of doing such a thing and that calmed me down. I thought her lectures were bad, but to make me hate her even more, she assigned us so much homework tonight. I feel sorry for Spencer because if she…lives, then she's going to have to make up all of that work she missed.

Well, I guess I'm gonna have to double up on the homework for a while.

Glen didn't come to school today because of obvious reasons and he hasn't talked to me all day. Well, it's only one block after lunch, but still. I didn't get any update or anything, telling me how everything is. I guess if something went wrong, he would've been the first one to tell me.

I can't get her out of my head because I just need to know how she is. I need to know if she's going to be okay.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Block 4 _

I'm so glad I just have this block and then school is done. I can go home and just relax. Well, depending on what kind of news I get.

I walk into my History classroom and drop my books on my desk. Aiden walks in shortly after me. He drops his books on his assigned desk and immediately walks over to me. He says in a sullen tone, "I heard what happened."

I asked in an angry tone, "Are you serious? Who the hell told?" I didn't want Spencer to come back to everyone talking about her and making her life even worse than it is.

Aiden says innocently, "I don't know. Is she okay?"

I say in a morose tone, "I don't know. I haven't heard anything." More people begin to enter their room and sit in their seats.

He says sincerely, "If there's anything you need, just let me know." He looks at the clock to see how much time before the bell rings. He starts to move farther from me as he says, "Will you keep me updated?"

I promise, "Yes."

The late bell rings, as I get ready for another invigorating class.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My mom offered to take me home today because Kyla had another meeting and Glen didn't go to school today. I look for her car as soon as I walk out of the building. I don't look for two seconds before I see her car. I walk faster than normal because the anxiety of not knowing is killing me.

I promptly ask as soon as I open the door, "Is she okay?"

Her already sad face got worse after I said that. She says as she puts her sunglasses on, "Just get in first."

I throw my backpack and handbag into the car and climb in. I shut the door and blurt out, "Is she?" She doesn't hold back the sniffling. I can't tell if she's crying because she's got the obnoxious glasses I just want to rip off of her right now. I say, "Mom, just tell me. I can take it." The truth is, I probably can't.

She turns the wheel to turn onto the street to head home. We don't go far before the crossing guard stops us to allow students to walk across. She raises the sunglasses just high enough to wipe oncoming tears away. She says, "You know that I love you, honey, right?"

I breathe heavily. I say, "I know Mom. I know. You're scaring me Mom." I look at her a little closer. I reluctantly ask, "She didn't make it, did she?"

Mom looks at me and starts bawling her eyes out. She slowly shakes her head and says, "No."

I break down crying right there. I put my hands on my head, trying to protect myself from anyone seeing my face. My mom leans over and puts her arms around me. I repeat over and over again, "No. No. No!"

I must've fallen asleep in class because I suddenly wake up to find it was just a dream. Now, I think I'm going to deal with a real nightmare—everyone laughing and staring at me because I made a scene in the classroom. I look around the classroom to see Aiden jerking seriously towards Mrs. Luke for me to pay attention. I look over at her and she says, "Welcome back to Earth Ashley. Did you have a nice nap?"

I say honestly and quietly, "No."

She replies sharply, "Make sure it doesn't happen again."

If I know that's what I would dream about, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.

It was only another half an hour before class was over with. As soon as the bell rang, Aiden walks over to me in a confused state of mind. He asks, "What the hell happened in there?"

He caught me by surprise a little. I say, "What?"

He watches where he walks as he says, "First of all, you've never slept during class in the 10 years I've known you. And secondly, what were you dreaming about that caused you to go frantic?" He seems really concerned, but I also sense he knows why. I think he may know why I'm exceptionally concerned about Spencer, but he won't say anything.

I come clean because I don't feel like hiding anything from him right now. I say, "I had a dream—well nightmare—that Spencer didn't make it."

Thank God no teachers aren't around. He says pretty loudly, "Holy shit!" He waits a couple seconds. He says to assure himself, "You're not known for experiencing things that are going to happen, are you?"

I say, "Not that I know of."

Aiden and I part as soon as he reaches his locker. He says, "See ya later, Ash." Before the distance gets too big between us, he says, "You'll keep me posted, right?"

I say simply, "Yes."

I arrive at my locker and gather my things as quickly as I can to get out. I walk out of the building, looking for my mom's car. Her car seems to stick out like a sore thumb or it just seems that way because I'm so used to it that I could spot hers out in any parking lot. I walk to the car and open the door, allowing the warm air from the car hit my face. I ask, "Is she alright?"

She reaches up top and grabs her sunglasses. The sun is exceptionally bright today for some reason. She says, "Well hello too you too." I feel that response means she's okay, well at least not dead. It is a lot better than the response I got in my nightmare. I haven't moved since I asked and Mom notices it. She asks, "Do you want a ride home or not?"

I throw my things into the car and climb in. Besides the fact that I'm short, the car is a crossover. Yes, I have to _climb_ in it. I close the door and ask again, "Is she okay?"

Mom puts on her signal to turn out of her spot. She looks in the back of her car to make sure no one is coming so she can ease out of the spot. She says, "She'll be fine. It's going to take her a while to heal, but she'll make it. With the love and support from everyone around her, she'll make it."

I smile, knowing I am assured Spencer's safety. I ask to not be so centered on Spencer, "How are Glen and Mrs. Carlin taking everything?"

We stop to allow kids to walk across. She exhales, "I think that's a totally different story. They have a lot to go through to make the best of this experience."

I somehow manage to get back to talking about Spencer. I ask, "Can I visit her today? Am I allowed to?"

She turns the corner to proceed home. She nods her head, "Yea. As soon as you get your homework done, we'll drive over."

I mumble to myself, hoping she doesn't hear me, "I guess I'm never going then."

She heard me. She asks, "What?"

I say quickly, "Nothing. I'm gonna get my homework done then."

Mom nods her head, "Good idea."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took me about an hour and a half to finish my homework—and Spencer's—but only because I had the drive to do it. I haven't had the want to finish my homework that quickly in ages. Probably when I was five, when schoolwork was one page of tracing your letters. What a hard life that must've been.

So as soon as I finished my homework, my mom drove me over to the local florist because I wanted to get flowers for Spencer. I honestly don't know if she likes flowers as a GET WELL gift, but I guess this will be the test. Mom helped me pick out a very pretty arrangement with blue and purple flowers. I didn't know what color to get, but I know Spencer's wears a lot of blues and greens so I presume those are her favorite colors. I don't think it's going to matter what color they are because they're absolutely beautiful and she'll be stunned with that, alone. I got nervous when the florist asked me what is was for. I told her it was a GET WELL gift, but that wasn't good enough for her. She seemed like a very nosy person. I don't understand the need to know everyone's personal life, but she obviously did. I didn't want to tell her the real reason she wasn't well, so I told her my friend had a very ugly face that was in dire need of reconstruction, so she got surgery. I was implying the girl's face was ugly, but she didn't understand the joke. She didn't bother to ask any more questions after that. I thanked the girl, only because my parents brought me up to be polite, but being polite is not in my nature, sometimes. Mom sighed greatly as we walked out of the shop, expressing how unbelievably I acted towards that girl, but I know she was laughing deep down.

So the ride from the shop to the hospital isn't that long. We get there in a matter of minutes. Mom doesn't know what room number it is so we go to the front desk. As Mom asks I look around the waiting room and I spot Mrs. Carlin. I instantly walk up to her and greet her. I catch her a little off guard. I say, "Hey Mrs. Carlin. How are you holding up?"

I can tell she's trying to be optimistic. She says, "Hello Ashley. I'm doing the best I can right now." She pauses to look around the room. "Glen went to get coffee. He should be back in a couple minutes."

I correct her in a slow response, "I'm not here to see Glen. I wanted to see Spencer, if that's all right. You know, if I'm allowed to. I don't know the rules about non-family members and visiting hours."

She shakes her head pleasantly. She assures, "Don't worry, you are family."

I am overwhelmed by that comment. My body overtakes me and moves towards her to give her a big, warm hug. I say, "Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart."

Mom walks over towards us and I release Mrs. Carlin from my arms. I think she immediately knows who Mrs. Carlin is because I don't normally go around hugging "strangers." She says with a smile and reaches out her hand to be shaken, "Hello. I don't think we've formally met. I'm Christine Davies."

Mrs. Carlin stands up and reaches her hand to shake Mom's. She says, "Hello. I'm Paula Carlin." They free each other's hands. "You have an amazing daughter."

Mom smiles at me and says, "Thank you."

I change the subject because I tend to feel very uncomfortable being the center of attention. That's hard to believe, but it's true. I ask Mrs. Carlin, "What room is Spencer in?"

Mom answers instead, "E-122." She pauses to watch me look around to find a room number visible from where I'm standing.

Paula helps, "It's on this floor. Just follow the path and it'll wrap you around right to her room."

Mom asks as I begin to walk down the path, "Do you want me to come with you?"

I turn around and assure, "No, I got this."

She waves and I wave back. I see her place a seat next to Mrs. Carlin. I immediately know all they're going to be doing is chatting up a storm. Mom is known for talking for hours on end, but I think that'll be good for Mrs. Carlin. It'll help her get her mind off of things.

It doesn't take me long to find Spencer's room. Her door is wide open and I slowly walk in. Spencer has her head looking the opposite way of me. I say in a calm tone to not make her jump from her serenity, "Hey."

She slowly turns her head over and smiles lightly. She says hoarsely, "Hey." Her eyelids are almost completely hovering over her eyes.

She doesn't seem in the mood to have any visitors right now and I can understand that. I'll just leave the flowers on the table and quietly excuse myself. I ask, "Is this a bad time? I can come back when you feel better?"

She tries to say quickly, "No, don't go." She pauses and tries to wet her throat. She smiles and says, "It's good to see you."

She has no idea how glad I am to see her, especially after my little episode in History class. The only thing I can think of, comes out of my mouth, "How are you feeling?"

Her eyes struggle to stay open as she says, "I'm okay right now. I had surgery not too long ago and they hooked me up to this thing." She picks up tube that has a button on top. Every time it's pushed, extremely small doses of morphine get injected into her through the IV. I watch a lot of discovery channel shows. She tries to smile, "The person who invented this has to be the most smartest person in the world."

It's kind of funny seeing her facial expressions because she looks like she's high. Her vocabulary or speech is not too great right now, too. I let the _most smartest person_ slip because she's not strong enough to take criticism right now.

I don't know what to say to her right now. I've never been in this kind of position and never in my wildest dreams thought I would be. I don't know what she wants to talk about, what she doesn't want to talk about. I'm kinda stuck her right now until or if she says something. I'll go from where she starts off.

She asks, to start a conversation, "How was English class?"

I blurt, "Pure torture."

She seems a tiny bit more alert when I say that. She smiles.

I smile and mumble to myself, "There's that smile."

She asks quietly, "What?"

I look up at her, acting confused. I say, "Nothing." She tries, with all her might, to give me the evil eyes, but she doesn't fully succeed. I laugh at the attempt of it. Because of nothing better to do, I look around the room quickly. I place the flowers on the table. I ask, "Is there anything you need or—anything? I could get it."

She says, "No. Would you please sit down? You're making me uncomfortable." I look for a chair around the room to sit in as Spencer says, "What beautiful flowers."

_Yes! Score! She likes the flowers_. I smile to myself before I turn around to see her look back at me.

She smiles as wide as she can and says, "Thank you."

I pull my bangs from my face as I sit down. I say, "No problem." I change the subject, "Are you sure there's nothing you need?"

Spencer shrugs her eyebrows. She says sarcastically, "You know what, now that you brought it up, I need a lot. I need you to do the laundry, take out the garbage, do my homework."

I give her an annoyed look. I say, "Ha-ha very funny."

She takes in a deep breath, to, I guess, prevent her from laughing because that must hurt like hell. She gazes up at the ceiling and says, "I thought it was." She looks over at me with a concerned manner. She asks, "What is with you, lately? Why are you acting so weird?"

I say, "Huh? Oh nothing." I wave her off with my hand.

She says quickly, "Oh don't play the 'nothing' card with me. That's bull. Just tell me what's up. I know that face."

I put my concentration on a spot of the floor. I admit, "I don't know. It's just a lot to take in right now, for me. I witnessed you getting shot, your dad committing suicide. It's just a lot to take in."

She says sharply, "You don't think it's been tough for me?"

I look up at her with a befuddled look. "What? No. I wasn't saying that."

She totally ignores what I just said. She starts to get loud, "You don't think getting shot by your dad is a lot to handle?"

I seem to raise my voice a little. I reply, "Why are you yelling at me?"

She gets vulgar, "Because you're acting like your life is the only one that can experience pain."

I'm starting to get argumentative. I say, "What? I definitely didn't say that."

She officially begins to yell, "It sure as hell sounded like it."

I'm furious at this point. I can't believe she's (we're) fighting. It's over something really stupid, too. I can't subject myself to this right now because I know one of us will end up saying something that we'll regret and then who knows what could happen. I don't want to lose her. I say in a calm tone, "I'm leaving so I can cool down. I don't want to say something I'll regret." I pick myself up from the chair and push the chair back to its original position. I say sincerely, "Enjoy the flowers."

Spencer must've thought that was just an excuse to get out of the situation because she yells as I walk out of the room, "Figures! Walk away when things get tough!" I wasn't too far out of the room when I hear her quietly say to herself, "I never got that chance."

_Oh Spencer_.


	6. All I Need Is You

**Previous reviews= awesome :]**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

Chapter 6: All I Need is You Ashley's POV

Mom turns the corner and onto the street we live on. As she continues to get closer, we see we are being greeted by at least one policeman. It could be two, but there's only one car in the street. I bet they're here just to get a report or something because the ambulances and rescue squads came before to bring Spencer to the hospital and clean up the mess. For some reason, no matter how well they could've cleaned up, last night will forever stain our memory.

Everyone was too much in shock to even comprehend what happened, so the nice policeman said he would come back later. This is exactly what I don't want to do right now—be questioned to the point of confusion. Apparently neither does Mom because she lets out a big groan and says, "Oh wonderful."

I didn't tell her what happened with Spencer because it's none of her business. I don't mean that in a harsh way, but if I were to tell her, she might make excuses for Spencer for acting like she did and then I'll begin yelling and defending myself. It would just be one big mess and I want to avoid any nonsense like that.

I want to make Mom more at ease or at least a little more relaxed so I try to make her laugh. I put my hand on her arm to get her attention. I say seriously, "Mom, we forgot the doughnuts."

She replies briefly with a "Ha-ha." She may not be expressing it, but I know she's laughing so hard from that.

We slowly pull into the driveway and hesitantly release ourselves from the car. We walk to the front door and I allow Mom to open it, letting myself become calm before entering. She enters into the house and I follow soon after. We immediately hear the chatting of Dad and a policeman. I don't think they know we've stepped in yet because they're continuing their conversation without any breaks. Mom drops her purse on the ledge and follows me into the kitchen where the sounds are coming from.

I step into the kitchen and greet the policeman with a quick smile and a nervous hand wave. Mom steps in a few seconds after that. Mom and I walk closer to them. He stands up and reaches his hand out towards Mom. He says pleasantly, "Hello. I'm Officer Carlin." He's a decent-looking guy with dark hair and he's tall. He seems really nice—probably too nice, especially for a cop.

Mom puts on a smile to set the mood. She shakes his hand and says, "Hello."

Dad stands up nervously and says, "Officer, this is my wife, Christine, and my daughter, Ashley." He points to each of us as he identifies us. He looks at Mom and updates, "Officer Carlin is here to get the report." That is his way of telling us to sit down and make him less comfortable with a cop in the house. Is it possible to ease a nervous person when you're nervous yourself?

Officer Carlin corrects him politely, "Please, call me Arthur."

I must be in a daze because "Carlin" is being thrown around left and right and I don't catch it until he corrects Dad. He must, somehow, be related to Spencer, but I would never ask because it's none of my business.

My body takes over my brain and blurts out, "Are you related to Spencer Carlin?"

He says quietly, "Yes. Actually I am. Ben was my cousin."

Mom responds quickly and a little dramatically, "I'm so sorry."

He says sincerely, "Thank you." He lets a long, awkward pause go by before speaking again. "Let's get this report, shall we?"

Mom nods her head and grabs a seat next to Dad. I take the remaining seat, which is in between Dad and Arthur.

Arthur takes out his notepad and a pen and prepares to write. He looks over at Dad and asks, "So you say Ben came over, asking to see Spencer? What tone was his voice when he first came over?" I'm already feeling tense after the first question.

"He was very pleasant at first, but quickly became angry when I realized he was drunk. I wasn't going to let Spencer near him, especially what happened a few days ago," Dad answers.

"What exactly happened?" he asks quickly.

I answer because I can't control my mouth, "He hit her." This is too much for me. I can't be around this—all of this questioning. It'll just remind me of last night and most likely make me picture it again. I can't visualize Spencer getting shot again—once was too much.

"Why did he hit her?"

I say sharply, "I don't know. Why don't you ask him why he did it? Why he shot his daughter? Why he ruined everything for his family due to his poor actions? Why don't you ask him?" I quickly realize what I just did. I instantly remove myself from my seat and storm upstairs.

I hear Mom, "I'm so sorry for her behavior." She sounds embarrassed.

He consoles, "Don't be. It has to be a lot for her to take in."

More than you know. I can't take this anymore.

I need Spencer.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spencer's POVTwo days later

I'm in so much pain that it's unbelievable. I feel like my rib ruptured through my skin and is being extracted from my body—without being put out. Nothing I do makes the pain go away and I'm so frustrated about it. My painkillers can no longer kill the pain—not with the recommended dose, anyway.

I flip through the channels on the TV, trying to find something decent to watch while I uncomfortably squirm in my bed, looking for a comfy position. I don't understand why, whoever controls what plays on the TV, can't pick respectable shows to run during the day. They need to realize there are people in the hospital dying—bad choice of words—to watch something that will distract them.

So, because of their poor scheduling decisions, I have the pleasure of choosing from Blues Clues, Dora or SpongeBob. It's a tough decision, considering they all have their pluses and minuses—mostly minuses. I make a decision to watch Dora, but only because I figure if I'm gonna be stuck in here for a few more days, I might as well catch up on my Spanish.

I maintain concentration on Dora until the commercial break. Mom walks in suddenly after, carrying my wonderful tray of hospital food. It's the best part of the day—not. Mom walks towards me with a big smile on her face. What could she be so happy about? She says happily, "Hey Spencer. How are you feeling?"

I look at her with a dumb expression on my face. I ask, "Is that supposed to be funny? Because, frankly, I don't think it's funny." I shake my head.

She says with a sad face, "That bad huh?" She rolls tray holder closer to my body, allowing me to eat. I immediately smell the aroma of my meal. It reeks so bad that it's covering my stench. Ew.

I beg like a puppy, "Can't you give me anything? I'm in so much pain right now. I should've passed out by now."

She prepares my tray to, I guess, be somewhat appealing to my stomach. She looks at me with an unsure face. She says, "I don't know honey. You just took your Percocet a half an hour ago." She pauses and then a light bulb appears on the top of her head. "I could authorize for some Advil."

I give her a confused look. I say, "Advil? You expect Advil to work when my 'extra strength Percocet' isn't even working?"

She has a story to tell. I can see it in her face. She raises her finger at me. There it is, there's a Remember when…?/story/when I was your age… coming at me. She says, "Remember when I got surgery on my knee for my meniscus?"

Oh yeah. How could I forget those times? Ones filled with screams, anger, and pain all revolving around the family. Good times. I say, "Yea."

"Well I took Advil because the Percocet wasn't working and it worked wonders. It could end up being the same for you."

I blow off what she just said. I really want to know what she's so happy about. I wait a few moments and then I say, "Mom? What are you so happy about?"

"Oh nothing, "she says with an unusual face. It's one I haven't seen before. I don't know if I'm supposed to see that as a plus or minus.

If I didn't know any better, I would think it was a face, expressing she met someone cute. Is that even possible?

In less than one week, she found out her husband was having an affair; her husband hit me, and then eventually shot me. How can she even think of liking someone else?

Ugh. I can't take all this drama right now.

I need Ashley.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ashley's POV

_Later that day_

I force myself to see Spencer today to clear up what happened a couple days ago. I couldn't see her yesterday because I had to work right after school and I was too exhausted to even think of going to the hospital. And I really didn't want to see her because I figured she was still mad at me. That extra time gave me time to think about what happened and what I can do to fix it. I don't want our friendship to go down the drain because of a little fight, so I chose my words carefully to say.

I step into the room, noticing Spencer's sleeping peacefully. Do I stay or do I go? If I stay, it could be hours until Spencer wakes up. If I leave, I wouldn't have resolved anything with her. What do I do?

I think about it a little and then I come up with the idea of leaving a note for her. I need paper and a pen, though. I stand still as I glance around the room, looking for an image of what I need. I look at the table with the GET WELL flowers and whatnots and see a lonely notepad, lying there.

I don't realize how close I am to the chair next to me and I whack my foot right into it, creating a loud, echoing sound around the room. I look over at Spencer at bite my lip, hoping I didn't wake her up. This is a very awkward position to be in.

She wiggles and turns as she moves her head to looks towards me. Oh great. I've done it now. I say innocently, "I'm sorry did I wake you?"

She slowly opens and closes her eyes, trying to wake up. She says, "Yea. It was your stench. I could smell it half way down the hall." She smiles.

I say, "Ha-ha very funny." I wait a few moments. "How are you feeling?"

She opens beautiful blue eyes and fixes them at me. She says, "Eh. I was in a lot of pain before, but a little Advil worked wonders."

She needs her sleep, then. I say, "Then I'll just go. You need your sleep." I start to walk out of the room.

She becomes alert and says, "No, I don't need my sleep. I need to talk to you about something."

Okay, whenever anybody says "we need to talk" or "I need to talk to you" it's never good. But I need to tell her something, too. I can't keep it from her anymore.

I take in a deep breath before I turn around and say, "I have something I need to tell you, but you go first."

She scrunches her face to express her confusion and then just continues with what she needs to get out. She takes a deep breath and says, "I'm sorry about before. I was a total jerk. It was unnecessary."

I didn't expect that from her because I was supposed to be the one who apologized. But what did I need to apologize for?

I say, "It's okay." I put my head down, contemplating whether I should tell her or not. I really want to tell her, but I definitely don't think this is the time. She's already got enough on her hands.

My cell phone vibrates loudly in my pocket, allowing Spencer to hear it. And it's a…text message. I quickly open the phone to see who it is. Glen: _**We need to talk. My house in 10?**_

Oh no. Another "we need to talk." Are all of the Carlins trying to mess with my head today? But yet, this is a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card because I have an excuse to leave.

Spencer looks at me with a confused face. She asks, "What did you need to tell me?"

I lie, "Oh nothing. It wasn't important." I wave her off with my free hand and smile, pretending everything is okay and will be okay, but it won't.

I text him back saying: _**Okay. See ya in a few.**_ I close my phone and look up at her.

She asks, "Who was that?"

I pull my bangs from my eyes. I say, "Glen. He wants to talk to me about something, so I got to go."

Spencer says disappointedly, "Oh. Well, I'll see you later then. Bye." She waves her left arm—the bad arm—with all her might.

I say as I walk out, "Bye. Feel better."

I glance back as she laughs and says, "Funny."

"There's that smile, again."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Later_

Glen looks at me with an exasperated face and takes a deep breath. He finally says, "I don't think this is going to work out. You and me."

I say, "What?" I'm not mad, though because I was planning on breaking up with him anyway. We rarely get to see each other and I just don't feel a connection with him anymore.

He tries to protect himself, "It's not you, it's me."

Ha-ha. What a line. I would've used it, too.

I say calmly, "Okay."

He looks shocked and thrilled I just said that. He asks, "Really? You're okay with it?"

I admit, "Yea. It's fine. It's high school—break ups happen all the time."

He smiles widely and reaches in for a hug. I accept it because this has probably been eating at him for a while, but never had the guts to do it.

I kinda feel sorry for him.

He asks, "Can we still be friends?"

I shrug my shoulders. I say, "Yea, sure. Why not?" My phone rings and I know it's a phone call. It's probably my parents, telling me to come home and eat dinner. I say, "That's probably my parents." I stand up to excuse myself from the house. "See ya around?"

He smiles, "Yea sure."

He walks me to the door, acting like the gentleman that he is. He's a really good person—not lying. He deserves someone great, but I won't tell him that because it'll probably be too much too handle. He opens the door, allowing me to leave. I say in a friendly matter, "Bye."

He responds back and shuts the door when I get onto the sidewalk.

It was so hard to not turn around and blurt to Glen, before leaving, "So now that I'm not dating you, can I date your sister?"


	7. Buried Desires

**Great feedback as always guys :D **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**Chapter 7: Buried Desires**

**Ashley's POV**

_December 24__th_

Spencer and I agreed to exchange gifts for Christmas, but we can't tell what we are getting each other because it would ruin the surprise. Yet, I have nothing to spill because I haven't found anything that suits Spencer. I typically am picky about getting my friends gifts for whatever the occasion is, but it's different with Spencer. I don't want to get something too expensive and then make her think I'm trying to get something out of her, yet, I don't want to get anything cheap because she means a lot to me. I have a different connection with her that I can't exactly explain, so I need to get something that would mean more to her.

I'm in the mall right now, parading around, seeking to find a unique gift for Spencer. I've been to all the stores I thought would've had something, but I was terribly mistaken. My legs are tired of lugging my body around and I'm tried of getting my hopes up in every store only to get shot down.

I stop looking from left to right to look at Kyla. I say, "Let's just go home. I'll have to forge something by tomorrow." I turn around to start walking.

She tugs my arm to turn me around. She says, "Wait. What about that store?"

I turn around to see a brand new jewelry store. It doesn't seem like it's the expensive stuff so I figure I would check it out and then we're out. I begin to walk towards the store as Kyla follows shortly behind me.

I spectate the store before going to far to analyze if it's worth the look. I walk past the earrings because I don't think Spencer has her ears pierced. I'm probably completely wrong, but I walk past them anyway. I get to the section of the necklaces and decide to snoop through. One of them sparkles through the corner of my eye. I turn to see matching "dog tag-looking" necklaces that have "best" and "friends" written on them. I really liked them even though they were utterly corny. They are better than anything I've seen in the mall so I'm buying them. I don't care how much Spencer laughs at me for it because it was the best I could do.

Now if I could only come up with a decent speech to go with my poor excuse of why I got this then I'll be fine.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I feel my phone vibrate through my pocket. It's another call. I pick it up without looking at the number and casually say," Hello."

Spencer anxiously says, "In five minutes, meet me at my house so we can give our gifts."

I hurry my words, "Okay. Bye."

Oh no. I need to wrap my gift and make a card (or find one) within the next five minutes. I quickly run up to Mom's room to dig for wrapping paper and tape. I made a mess during the process of wrapping the thing, but the end product was worth it. Now I need to find a card. I go into Mom's closet where she stores all of the Christmas junk and dig into the card box. I shuffle through each card, glancing at the fronts to decide whether or not to pull it out. I spot a funny card and instantly pull it out to sign it with a nearby pen.

I leave the room a mess, but plan on cleaning up later. I run downstairs and out of the house, snatching my jacket on the way.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't have to knock as Spencer is anxiously waiting at the front door. She has a huge grin on her face, which causes me to return it back. She says as she opens the door, "Hey."

I reply quickly as she unexpectedly grabs my arm to bring me upstairs. Either she's in a hurry or she's just overly excited to give me my present. I wish I could be that energized to give her my present.

We run into her room and she quickly closes the door. She still has that smile on her face. I don't mind it, but its kind of scaring me right now. She points to her bed, cueing me to sit on it. She says as she bites her lip, "Close your eyes."

I refuse, "Spencer…"

She says, "Uh huh. Close your eyes." She waves her finger at me and shakes her head. I close my eyes, but only to get this over with. I hear her walk around the room to grab the bag. Her footsteps inch closer to my body, making my heartbeat faster. The anxiety of not knowing is killing me right now. She says eagerly, "Open."

I open my eyes to see Spencer, holding a decorated bag that has my gift in it. I take the bag from her hands and peak in. The tissue paper in covering my sight of whatever may be buried underneath. Why does Spencer have to make this so complicated? I fold the paper on both sides to reveal an iPod. What?! I gasp and look up at her. I take the iPod out of the bag and sort of wave it at her. I say, "Are you crazy? You're giving me your iPod? You're brand new iPod?"

She tries to justify this outrageous gift, "First of all, it's not that new and secondly, you really deserve it."

I say in shock, "How do I deserve it? You realize you pretty much spent $150 on me?" She doesn't answer me. "I can't take it. I'm not taking it." I put the iPod in front of her, but she pushes it away.

She demands, "You're going to take it and you're going to like it. You deserve it."

I ask in confusion, "How do I deserve it?"

She says, "Because I know how much you really like your music and when your iPod broke, you were devastated. So then I knew what better gift to give you than my iPod."

I beg, "Take this back. Your mom bought this for you. I feel terrible even having it my hands right now."

She explains, "Don't worry, I asked my mom and she thought it was perfect for you. You've been such a wonderful friend to me. You saved my life."

Now I'm confused beyond belief, "You almost died in my house."

She shakes her head; "I bet if I wasn't at your house that night, something a lot worse would've happened. I probably wouldn't be here." I run out of excuses, so I give her a disappointed look. "Just take it, please. I really want you to have it."

I sigh. I say quietly, "Okay." I stand up to give her a big hug. "Thank you so much. This means so much to me." I break away. I break the tension by chuckling.

She smiles and asks, "What's so funny?"

I look down at my present to her. I say, "Well, it's just that now I feel bad about what I got you. It's not even close to being as nice as a new iPod."

"Pfft," she says. She slowly bends down to grab the bag. She pulls out the card first to view it. She laughs loudly at the front picture. It's a picture of a snowman holding up a hairdryer with the other one with his hands raised, pleading to not have the hairdryer being blown at him. I thought it was funny. She says, "Cute." She opens the inside and reads the usual "Merry Christmas" and then places it on her bed. She reaches in for the jewelry. She drops the bag on the floor to open the box with her hands. She opens it up and gasps. She says, "I love it." What? She's either being a really good actress or for some odd reason, she really likes them. She removes the "Best" necklace and hands it over to me. She says, "You get that one because you're the best." I didn't realize how corny she could really be when she wants to. I laugh it off and take it from her hand. I put the necklace on as I watch her do the same for hers.

I clarify, "I tried to get something better, but there was just nothing that I found that was decent enough to give you."

She assures, "This is fine. This is great, actually. I really like it." She smiles.

I ask, "Are you sure? You're not lying to me to make me feel good about the present, are you?"

She smiles, "No. I really like it."

We stand there for a few seconds, staring at each other's necklace. I say to break the quietness, "There's this New Year's party that Aiden throws every year. His parents aren't usually there so it's a lot of fun. It can get pretty crazy sometimes." I pause. "I was wondering if you wanted to go. It could help you take your mind off things a little bit."

She says, "Yea, sure. Wait…how come Aiden didn't ask me himself?"

I bite my lip. I say, "You really want to know why?"

She nods her head.

"Because he thinks you're afraid of him."

She laughs loudly. She says, "That's ridiculous, but really funny." She shakes her head. "What's there to be afraid of? He's a shrimp."

He may be a shrimp, but he can get his alcohol down—really well.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_At the party _

Spencer and I went to the party together to make sure she wasn't alone and in an awkward position being alone. Mom dropped us off at the front of the house. We step out of the car as she says, "Have fun girls." Just before I close the door she adds, "You'll call me to know when to pick you up, right?"

I give her the "Yes, Mom. Now go" look. She realizes that's her cue and drives off when we're completely out of the car. I scoff and look at Spencer before we begin walking. I shake my head in a playful manner as we walk towards the house.

I ring the doorbell and Aiden immediately greets us with a cup in his hand. I notice his stature isn't very strong as I gaze at his presence. I smile at Spencer and say, "Looks like the party already started."

He waves us to come in and says, "Come on in. It's freezing out there." It's not too cold out, considering it's December in Ohio. I guess drunken people get colder quicker than those who are sober. "Everyone's downstairs."

No kidding. I thought the entire ruckus, chaos, and extremely loud music was coming from your neighbor's house. I lead Spencer into the basement and quite a few people immediately greet us. I know a lot of them, but there's just too many. There's more than there were last year. I think Spencer will be all right with all of the people because she probably knows the majority of them from school. I wonder if she's friendly with any of them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_An hour later, 10:00 pm_

Everything seems to be a little calmer than it was when we first got here. I guess the whole "Woo! Let's party!" phase seemed to die out quickly.

A group of us are sitting in circle, including Spencer, chatting about whatever's on our minds. Everybody's coupled up on a couch, cuddling: Aiden and Shannon, Danielle and Jake, and Chelsea and Sean. Spencer and I are on the other couch, not cuddling. Damn.

Aiden randomly ejects from his mouth, "My dad said I should go to Ohio University and become a lawyer. He says I know how to argue and lie really well." He chuckles, as does everyone else, except Spencer. She appears to be deep in thought about something. She doesn't look okay, like something is bothering her.

Danielle says, "My dad doesn't want me to go to college. He wants me to live at home the rest of my life." She shakes her head. She scoffs, "Typical dad." Not two seconds after Danielle finishes speaking, Spencer lifts herself off the couch and proceeds to walk upstairs. Danielle looks at me and asks, "Is she okay?"

I stand up and shrug my shoulders. I look back as I walk towards the stairs, "I'll be right back." As I walk up the stairs, I yell, "Spencer!" I hope for an answer back, but she isn't giving it to me. I walk towards the front door and see it just closed. I quickly grab my jacket and head out to catch up to her. I knew something was wrong. I should've asked her before it got to this.

I run out of the house and soon enough, catch up with her. We walk side-by-side on the sidewalk as I wait for her to utter something—anything. I'm not going to jump to conclusions or even ask her what's wrong because if something is bothering her this much, I need to allow her to open up to me.

After a few minutes of entertaining myself with my visible breath, Spencer asks, "Do you think it's crazy that I miss him?"

I calmly ask, "Miss who, Spencer?"

She hesitantly says, "My dad. I mean, do you think it's crazy that I wish he were still alive?" She looks down as we continue to walk.

I try to comfort her. I say, "No, I don't think so. You lived with him and grew to love him for 15 years. I think it's only natural for you to miss him, despite the fact that he almost killed you and had an affair."

She admits, "The thing is, I miss him. I miss the fun times we used to have together. I miss having a set of parents, instead of just one. I don't know. It feels really empty in my house and in my heart. I'm crazy for even thinking this."

I assure, "No you're not, Spencer. Your dad was a very big part of your life. Everything probably had the 'happily ever after' feeling to it, until all hell broke loose. You can't be crazy for wanting the 'happily ever after' feeling because we all want it in some aspect of our life." I pause to think of an example. "Like how…" _I want to kiss you right now because you look so adorable, being sad._ I almost said it, but I stopped myself. Close call. "How I want to get a job in the music business, hopefully fall madly in love with someone, get married, have a bunch of kids, and live happily ever after, but I know it won't go that way. It never does—for anyone." She appears to be deep in thought, almost to the point of confusion. I say, "I have no idea where I was going with that, but that's the first thing that popped into my mind."

Spencer laughs. She stops short and smiles at me. She says, "You're right, though. I just wish I could go back to when everything was normal or at least before I moved here."

I pout, "Oh don't say that. If you never moved here, I wouldn't have met you." I create a frown.

She says, "Maybe that would've been a good thing." She laughs, but I don't seem to find that funny. I turn around to walk back to Aiden's house. She laughs a little harder. She quickly runs up to catch to me. "Oh come on. I didn't mean that. If I didn't meet you, my life wouldn't be nearly as fun as it is now." I smile, gesturing I'm not mad at her. She nudges my shoulder and says, "Thanks."

I ask, "For what?"

She says, "For helping me. You always know what to say."

Yea. That's to hide what I really want to say most of the time.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_An hour later_

I look over at Spencer who is wobbling around, trying to find her balance. She's got the same dazed look in her eye like Aiden had when he opened the door. She has a cup in her hand as she stumbles towards me. I say, "Spencer, can I have a sip?" She nods her head and hands it over. I sniff the punch and realize someone spiked it. I suggest, "Meet me in Aiden's bedroom. I need to have a talk with you." She obeys my orders and proceeds into his bedroom.

I carry the drink in my hand as I walk towards Aiden. I reach Aiden and almost throw it in his face, but I hold myself back. I say in a raised voice, "Are you crazy?"

He asks, "What?"

"Did you spike the punch?"

He says slyly, "So what?"

I say angrily, "So what? Spencer drank it and she's obviously had enough for it to be noticeable. If Spencer's mom finds out what really happens over here, your parties are gone, along with Spencer's friendship with me."

He seems concerned now. He asks, "She's drunk?"

I say, "Not quite." I look over at Aiden's bedroom door. "But you better hope she looks a lot better by the time we leave or you're dead."

I drop the drink onto the table and walk into his bedroom. I look at Spencer who seems a little more alert than before. I ask, "How much punch did you drink?"

She says innocently, "Not a lot. Only a cup."

I say, "Yea, well that could be good or bad."

She asks, "Why? What's wrong with the punch?"

"The punch was spiked and by the looks of it, you were too."

She asks in concern, "Do I really look that bad?"

I console, "Not that bad, but you can tell you had something to drink."

She says quietly, "Oh." She looks down at the floor. "At least I know to not drink it anymore."

"You better not."

15 minutes later

Aiden makes an announcement, "Hey guys. How about a little Truth-or-Dare?"

Everyone cheers it on because it's been a tradition for his parties for a few years now. And now that we're older, it gets dirtier. He waves his arms for everyone to gather around in a circle. Spencer and I sit next to each other, as usual. As soon as Aiden sits down he says, "I'll go first."

He clears his throat as he looks around the room, trying to find just the right person to start off with. I look him straight in the eyes, daring him to pick me. To my surprise, he actually does. He says, "Ashley. Truth or dare?"

I'm feeling a little mischievous so I say, "Dare."

He nods his hand and looks at everyone and then the room and then back at everyone. Everyone is extremely quiet, waiting for Aiden to create something. He's doing something that's creeping me out a bit, I might say. He's looking back and forth and Spencer and I. I think I know what he's going to say, but I don't want it to be true.

He says with a huge grin on his face, "Make out with Spencer."

Dammit, Davies you were right. What do I do now? I stutter, "Uh…no. I thought we weren't going to do that kind of stuff anymore?" That was my lame excuse that got me absolutely nowhere.

Its not that I don't want to kiss Spencer, I don 't want her to feel uncomfortable kissing me. But other than that, I'm completely for it. It would be so hot.

He boos me, "Oh, chicken!"

I bite my lip and turn towards Spencer. She shrugs her shoulders, expressing "why not." I lean my face into hers as I slowly close my eyes. Our lips graze each other's just for a second until they are fully connected.

Now, most people say you feel sparks when you kiss someone you like or love, but I'm pretty sure I have a whole firework show going on right now. I've never kissed a girl before, but I'm glad Spencer was the one to "break me."

I slowly maneuver my lips with hers as I take my left hand to grasp her face. I guess with that touch, it cued Spencer to make the kiss deeper. Before I know it, we're twirling our tongues around, almost to the point of wrestling with one another.

The room is pretty much silent, other than our mouths going at it. Aiden, the Almighty Obnoxious, yells, "Move the hand!"

I guess my hand was preventing Aiden from seeing Spencer's face and/or our lips moving. If he's worried that we're not really making out, he shouldn't because as soon as we're done—whenever that may be—I will have the biggest grin on my face.

I move my hand and continue to maintain my amount of passion in the kiss. Aiden never told us for how long to kiss, so I'm guessing it's up to us. I know I don't want this moment to leave yet, and by the feel of it, neither does Spencer.

At least a full minute goes by before I break away from Spencer's lips. Everyone surrounding us seems to be in various levels of shock when we part. It might've been too realistic for them to handle. I wait anxiously for the silence to be broken.

A few seconds later, people slowly being to converse with each other. I dip my head behind Spencer's head, to whisper, "Aiden's room in a couple minutes?" I move my head forward to look at her reaction.

She simply nods her head in agreement. She's a little tipsy still, but I think she's considerably better than before, for some reason. I wonder if the drunk Spencer was the one not wanting to leave my lips. Oh God, I hope not. I hope it was the, at least, partially sober Spencer.

A few minutes go by and everyone's back to their original party positions. The Truth-or-Dare game ended right after our kiss. I think Aiden was afraid somebody, at the party, would've gotten a little out of hand with the dares.

Spencer and I stand up and walk towards Aiden's bedroom, without causing any commotion. We slip into Aiden's bedroom and I slowly lock the door to get some sort of privacy. I can tell by Spencer's demeanor, she's still a little tipsier than I thought. She might even be drunk. Please let that not be true, though. Spencer places herself onto the bed, hardly being able to support herself. I hesitantly walk myself over and place myself right next to Spencer, almost touching her. I turn my head to look at her, but I don't say anything. I can't even think of something to say.

Her eyes closely watch her own finger as it grazes my cheek in swirls, eventually ending up on my lower stomach. I can tell she's not all here, well at least not the sober Spencer. She finely puts her hand on my cheek and leans in for another passionate kiss. I allow her to do what she pleases with my mouth then I push her away from me. I look her straight in the eyes and say, "Spencer, you're drunk."

She has an irremovable grin as she says. "No I'm not."

I reply bluntly, "Yes you are. You probably don't even know what you're saying; let alone what you're doing. I just hope you can't remember any of this in the morning because otherwise we're going to have an interesting conversation." I push her hand away. She puts her hand on her head, expressing a headache, which was probably caused by the alcohol. I say, "Let's get you home."

She doesn't refuse as I grab her waist and support her to get home.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mom, Dad, and I just dropped off Spencer at her house and now we're in our driveway, heading into our house. I slowly walk behind my parents, but then am disrupted by Mom pulling Dad aside to say in a sexy tone, "Why don't we finish what we started before?"

One of the most disgusting things for a teen to witness is their parents getting it on, especially outside where everyone can have a visual. I hold my scoff in as I leave them behind. I know they'll be there a while, by the looks of it.

I proceed through the dark foyer to turn on the lights near the kitchen. As soon as I flip the switch I see two bodies on the couch that I found even more disgusting than my parents.


	8. Like Father, Like Son

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Previously On When Life Hands You Spencer Carlin

I proceed through the dark foyer to turn on the lights near the kitchen. As soon as I flip the switch I see two bodies on the couch that I find even more disgusting than my parents.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 8: Like Father, Like Son**

**Ashley's POV **

Even though I switched the light on, the two of them are still going at it like animals. I'm purely disgusted right now that I think I might throw up. But before I do that, I'm going to make them stop. I yell, "What the hell are you two doing!"

Glen and Kyla jump from the couch and look straight at me. Kyla struggles to situate her hair back into place while Glen is trying to button his shirt back up. Kyla speaks first, "This is not what it looks like, Ashley."

I try to be smart with her, "Well then what does it look like, Kyla? Because from where I'm standing, I see you trying to play baseball with Glen, here, who might I add, is my ex-boyfriend."

They look back and forth at each other, trying to figure out a good excuse, but can't find one. I give them a few more moments to allow them to retaliate themselves, but they don't take advantage of it.

I quickly remember the two figures that are still outside and have yet to come in. I say quickly, "Glen, just get out of here and make sure my parents don't catch you. They're right outside and are due in here any second."

Glen gives Kyla a quick peck on the cheek before he runs right of the house through the basement. After Kyla and I stare him down as he goes down the stairs, I stare straight at Kyla. She gives me an astonished expression of the whole ordeal. She speaks, "I can explain."

I reply quickly, "You know what? Don't worry about it." I let her off the hook for only two seconds. "Were you doing this when Glen and I were going out?"

I caught her by complete surprise, for the second time of the night. If I go for a third time, she might not be around tomorrow. She defends herself quickly, "No definitely not. I told Glen to break up with you first before we did anything."

My mouth drops to the floor. For some reason, I get furious over that statement. I raise my voice, "What? You made him break up with me so that you two could be together? Wow. What a great sister you are."

My statement confuses her. She says, "No! What I meant-"

My parents walk in mid-sentence. Dad raises his voice to be level with hers, "Whoa what's going on in here?"

Kyla and I just stare at each other, not willing to spill anything. But I shouldn't even be mad. I don't have feelings for him anymore. And I probably would've broke it off if he didn't by now. So why am I so angry?

I clench my teeth and lie right through them, "Nothing. Everything's just dandy, isn't it Kyla?"

She says casually, "Yup. There's not a single problem here."

Our parents look back and forth at us. Mom finally says, "All right just get upstairs and go to bed. It's been a long night."

I mutter, "Yea, no kidding."

My parents completely ignore that comment, even though I knew they heard it loud and clear. They continue to walk into the foyer, but stop in their tracks. Mom asks, "Has somebody been spraying cologne around here?"

They smell Glen right about now, but they're not too pleased with it. Kyla makes a quick excuse, "Yea Glen stopped by earlier for a few minutes. I guess he left a lasting impression." She chuckles nervously at her sly comment, but no one's laugh syncs with hers.

My parents must be really tired because they ignore that lame excuse as well and continue up the stairs. I mutter under my breath, "In more ways than none, apparently."

Kyla slaps my arm really hard. She whispers angrily, "You are so disgusting and so lucky that mom and dad didn't hear that."

I scuff my voice and say. "Oh don't worry, they wouldn't have paid any attention to it anyway. Like they said, it's been a long night." I sigh and continue towards the stairs.

Kyla stops me before I even lay my foot on the first step. She says, "Wait, why were you back so early from the party?"

"Because-" I stop myself from explaining. She doesn't need to know. She doesn't have the right to know. She never gave me the right to know about Glen. "It's none of your business." I storm up the stairs and into my bedroom because tomorrow is going to be another long day.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_7:00 a.m._

I wake up suddenly to the sound of my mother's voice roaring from the foyer. She yells, "Ashley! Get up!" She doesn't do it in a tone that expresses angry. She throws her voice like that on a daily basis, so today is no exception. Except the fact that today I don't need to get up so damn early, but because of some people's poor choices last night, I'm getting punished for it.

My mind wants to get up and please my mother by walking downstairs to show her I'm up and ready for the day, but my body seems to have other plans for me. My body feels like a cement block, refusing to move in the direction I want it to go.

"Ashley! Wake Up!" she yells once more. I don't feel like having the sound of that kind of voice this early in the morning so I use all of my energy to just pick myself up. My eyes repudiate to open so I walk along in the hall with them open wide enough to not trip or run into anything dangerous. Someone can put a piece of dental floss against my eyes and I would lose complete view of everything. That's how close to closed my eyes still are.

I'm not used to getting up so early (other than during school time), especially not after twelve or so days of Christmas vacation. And on top of that, I stayed up until like five because I just couldn't fall asleep. Spencer was keeping me up, not literally, but figuratively. So many questions were running ramped through my head last night such as: "What if Spencer remembers everything that happened tonight? Am I supposed to tell her how I really feel about her? Or what if she doesn't remember anything? Am I supposed to tell her or just let it slide and act as if nothing remotely exciting happened at the party?" It was an almost full night of "what ifs?" I'm still trying to figure out what I should do with Spencer, but for now I need to make my way down the stairs.

I'm so tired that I'm just waiting for my body to stop moving and fall asleep standing up, but not near the stairs of course. I want to be able to wake up at some point.

I hear a sly comment creeping towards me, "Looks like someone snuck out last night."

I slowly turn my head to see the blurry image of Kyla, standing next to me. I try to open my eyes wide enough to get a good view of her as I say sarcastically, "Yea, that's exactly what I was doing."

She folds her arms and asks, "Then can you explain why you're eyes are hollowed in, big, dark circles shadow your eyes, and you can barely keep those eyes of yours open?"

Maybe I'm exceptionally drowsy right about now, but that statement she just made, reminds me of Mom. I look at her and say, "Rough night I guess? I wasn't able to fall asleep. The party just kept me really hyper for too long."

She waits a few moments and unfolds her arms. She eases up a little. She says, "You probably don't even realize what you're saying right now. So why don't I just help you get downstairs and then I'll make up the couch for you."

I say, "No. I've gotta wake up or Mom will keep yelling out my name until I do."

I'm having troubling balancing myself right now. I really didn't an adequate amount of sleep last night for my body, but I'm feeling the full affect right now. I feel my body swing backwards into…my sister's arms.

Thank God she was there to catch me otherwise I would've really been out for the rest of the day. Kyla struggles in her voice, "I think you need to get back to bed. Don't worry, I'll cover for you." She pushes my body up so I can stand on my two feet capably.

I wave her off and say, "Thanks, Kyla. I owe you." I begin my journey down the seemingly long hall.

She jokes, "That's all right. Just make sure you get enough sleep so you can do my chores for a good month or two."

I utter sarcastically, "Ha-ha. What a hoot you are."

I hear her feet, racing down the stairs as I inch my way into my room to plop my body on the bed."

***

_Six hours later_

The sound my phone going off vibrates throughout the room. It's a call.

I search with my hand to find the phone without looking. I accidentally slam my hand on my phone and quickly grab it. I press the green button and speak without moving my head. I mumble, "What?"

An enthusiastic person speaks on the other end, "Wake up!" I can tell it's Spencer because no one else in their right mind would have the courage to demand me to wake up when I didn't want to.

I say groggily, "Why?"

She replies quickly, "Because it's one in the afternoon and you need to get up."

I rub my eyes, but they still refuse to open. I say, "Spencer, I didn't get much sleep last night so I don't feel like waking up just yet."

She speaks sarcastically, "Oh poor baby. Now get out of bed before I come over there and beat you out of it."

I say a little angrily, "I'm not in the mood for this crap right now so just stop."

She asks in a snotty tone, "What's up with you?"

I say extremely rudely, "I told you. I'm not in a good mood. I didn't get a lot-"

She cuts me off and speaks irately, "You know what? That's fine. Call me when you're in a better mood."

The next thing I hear is a click on the other end. All I can do is hit the little red button and groan. I just caused more unnecessary drama. I let out one, big sigh. Damn it.

I pick myself up from my bed and force myself to get ready for the day. I quickly jump into the shower, put some clothes on, and head out the door to apologize to Spencer.

I walk to her house without stopping myself for anything; otherwise I will get easily distracted and never end up at her house. I walk up the front steps and ring the doorbell. I take a couple steps back. I watch closely as she opens the door just enough to peak her head outside to speak. She says plainly, "Yes?"

"I-I…w-well…" I stutter over what I want to say. I've come this far; I can't back down by making up another lie. I sigh. I say quietly, "I need to talk to you about something."

She continues the same manner, "What?"

"I…" I pause. I don't want to do this standing up or even outside. "Can I come in?"

She takes one good look at me and then says, "Okay."

I grab a hold of the door to allow myself in. I step into the foyer and close the door behind me. I notice Spencer walking up the stairs so I decide to follow. We walk right into her room and she closes the door and locks it. She must know what I'm going to tell her or at least knows something is up.

She sits on top of her bed and folds her arms, a little annoyed by the situation or by my attitude before. She waits for me to speak. I say quickly, "Do you remember anything from last night?"

She shrugs her eyebrows and asks, "You mean other than getting drunk and then having a hangover the next morning?" She unfolds her arms, easing up a little.

I try to find my way around to answer that correctly. I say, "Yes. Something else happened."

She asks slowly, "What…exactly…happened?"

By the look she has on her face, it seems like she thinks she had sex with someone last night and will regret it, but that's not the case. I explain, "Well, to make a long story, short…we kissed."

She looks at me confusedly. She ponders and ponders. She finally asks, "Who did you kiss?"

Oh boy. I didn't want to have to actually say it. I was hoping she would just immediately understand so I didn't have to explain myself. I utter, "You."

Her eyes go bigger than quarters as soon as the message registered in her brain. She says, "You kissed me. I kissed you. We kissed each other." She pauses to take it all in. "How the heck did that happen?"

I answer a question with a question, "Spin the bottle?"

She eases up a little, "Oh."

Words slip out of my mouth, "But there's another thing…"

She questions, "Something else happened?"

I assure, "No." I bite my lip as hard as I've ever bitten it before. I'm so nervous, but I have to do it. "I think I like girls."

She shrugs her eyebrows like before. She asks, "You're gay?"

I'm not really sure that I am, but I know I definitely like girls. And I know for a fact I like Spencer so much. I say, "No…well yes, but I think I still like boys." I'm not sure about that though. I think I might be fully gay, but I can't give her all of this information at once.

She says casually, "That's cool. You're an in-betweenie then."

I ask quickly, "What? What's that?"

She smiles and explains, "My friends and I back in L.A. made this thing up that anyone who is Bi, then they were an in-betweenie because they were in-between choosing a girl or boy."

I nod my head. I reply, "Oh. That's cute." I let some time pass by. "So you're really okay with…"

She assures, "Yea. It's okay. I had a bunch of gay friends back in L.A. I don't think people should be judged by who they love."

I say, "That's such a relief to hear that. I was so worried you were gonna stop talking to me because of it."

"Pfft." She waves her hand off at me. "Nah. That would be ridiculous. You've been such a great friend and I couldn't just give you up."

I simply nod my head and let some time go by before I say anything.

I suddenly become the most gossipy person in the world. I quietly say, "Guess who I saw kissing each other last night."

She asks eagerly, "Who?"

I inform, "Glen and Kyla."

She gasps really loudly. "Oh my God." She pauses to wonder about it. She asks, "Do you think they were together when you and Glen were together?"

I answer, "I have a feeling that's the case, but I don't know for sure. Eh. Whatever it's over and done with so why should I care who he's with?"

She asks confusedly, "You don't mind that you're sister is going out with your ex?"

I explain, "Well, I mean the whole thing sounds a little creepy to me and it kinda hurts me for some reason, but I can't do anything about it."

She says in a heightened tone, "Wow. I would be so livid if I found out my sister was doing that behind my back."

I try to calm her, "Well, it's not a concrete fact so we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions."

"I know, but I can't believe what an ass my brother is. I can't believe he did such a thing."

"We're not together so don't worry about it."

"I know, but just the thought that he did such a thing bothers me."

"Don't be. I'm not. I should just be happy that Kyla found someone."

She says quietly, "Yea. Someone who has the potential to cheat on her."

I say even more quietly, "Yea, but she has to learn that for herself…"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Spencer's POV **

"Yo Glen!" I yell loud enough for Glen to hear me upstairs.

He yells from his bedroom, "Yea!"

I answer, "I need to talk to you about something really quick!"

I wait a considerable amount of time before anything happens. He opens his bedroom door and starts to walk down the stairs. He asks, "What is so important that you need to speak to me right now?"

I wait until he gets close enough to me before I do or say anything. He gets within reaching distance when I swing my hand to hit his face. I've never done that before, but I believe this was the perfect reason to do so.

He screeches in pain, "Ow! What the hell was that for?"

I raise my voice, "For being a jerk to Ashley and going behind her back to be with someone else. Her sister nonetheless." I wait for a reaction, but he doesn't respond. "You know, I can't believe you did that, considering that's the same thing Dad did to us and look at where it got us. That's amazing, Glen, that you were able to stoop that low. I thought you would've at least learned from Dad's mistake and not do things like that, but I guess like father, like son applies well to your life. "

He keeps his hand on his face, trying to rub away the pain. He says in a shocked tone, "What? That's not even the case. I wasn't cheating on Ashley! After I broke up with Ashley, then Kyla and I got together. So it's not the same. "

I yell, "It's exactly the same! Dad ripped Mom's heart out and broke it into a million pieces by cheating on her just like you broke Ashley's heart by doing that behind her back. She doesn't deserve that. She's a great girl who shouldn't have even wasted her time on you." He looks at me, without anything to even match up to what I said. "You know what? You just disgust me." I scoff my feet as I walk upstairs, away from him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	9. Out In The Open

**Cool feedback :) **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**Chapter 9: Out In the Open **

**Glen's POV**

What the hell just happened? Why does Spencer think she can just hit me? Wait, why did she even hit me? She's gotten mad before over something I've done, but never went this far.

Ow that really hurt. I continually rub my cheek, trying to make some of the pain go away. That sucker's got a good right hook.

Why did she do it? Well, obviously it was because she is very protective of Ashley, but why would…?

I race upstairs and right into Spencer's bedroom.

Spencer jumps as soon as she sees me and then begins to yell, "Glen! Get out of my room! I don't want to see you!"

I quickly stick my head out of her doorway to beam my eyes into Mom's room. She's wiggling her body around, but continues sleeping. I jump in front of Spencer and put my hand over her mouth, but not in a suffocating way. She tries to scream her way out of it, but I have to maintain her so Mom doesn't wake up. I raise my voice at Spencer, "Shut up. If you keep screaming, Mom is going to wake up and you know last night wasn't a good night for her so just keep quiet."

She groans as she angrily pulls away from me. She has a grimace on her face as she looks at the doorway and back at me. She asks, "What?"

I ask in a gentle tone, "Why did you hit me?"

I must've had a snarl on my face because she answers with an attitude, "Because you were a jerk."

I answer back, "That's not an answer."

In a childish way, she folds her arms and says, "Yes it is. You cheated on Ashley. Just admit it so that we can all get on with our lives."

I jump on that statement quickly, "Spencer, you should know me better than that to think I actually cheated on someone."

She gets wise with me, " Do you remember what happened with Melissa?"

Back in L.A., I dated a girl named, Melissa. To make an extremely long story, short, I found out she cheated on me, so I replied in an immature way by cheating on her as well.

I reply quickly, "That's a completely different story. Even you told me to cheat on her."

She raises her voice, "But wasn't it ultimately your choice to cheat on her?"

I widened my eyes like quarters at Spencer because I'm tired of her newly developed attitude. It's getting on my nerves and quickly. I explain, "I broke up with Ashley first. I clearly remember her saying that its high school and breakups happen all of the time. She was okay with the breakup so then why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

She reacts quickly, "Why did you breakup with her?"

"Because I didn't feel a connection with Ashley like I do with Kyla."

She sits there, pondering the statement. She says, "So Ashley didn't put out—that's what I'm hearing."

I raise my voice again," No! Spencer, for your information, even though it's none of your business, I did not have sex with Ashley. Ever."

She scoffs her voice, "I'm surprised."

This is becoming ridiculous, "Why are you surprised?"

She informs, "Because back at home you did the dirty with every girl that said yes."

Touché.

Now what do I do?

Just agree with her and get this conversation over with.

"You're right. I was a total jerk by being like that, but I'm not the same person, Spencer. I can promise you that," I say in a serious tone to get her attention.

She asks calmly, "How can I know that for sure?"

I sigh and say, "I don't know. I have nothing to prove to you that I'm not that way, but I can tell you, I don't want to end up like Dad. I don't want to marry someone, have two kids, and then cheat on her, causing a torn family. I don't want anyone to end up like Mom…" My mind gets emotional, causing my face to as well.

Spencer looks at me with a sorry face and walks up towards me. She wraps her arms around my body and says, "I'm sorry." She pulls away from me and continues, "I didn't mean all of those things. When Ashley told me what's going on with you and Kyla. I'll admit, it made me sick because I knew that's how you were back home. And then I thought by moving to Ohio, it would somehow make you change and you did change, but hearing about you and Kyla just really made me lose all respect for you."

My mouth drops to the floor. I say, "Wow." I pause for a good amount of time. "But you know that's not the case, right?"

She nods her head and says, "Yea."

I begin to tease her, "Are you sure that's the real reason why?"

She looks at me confusedly and asks, "For what?"

"Being so protective of Ashley—because you thought I cheated on her while we were together?"

She hesitates to answer, "…Yea."

I ask slowly, "Are you sure there's not a better explanation for why you acted this way?"

She hesitates again, "…No?"

I scoff my voice, "Coulda fooled me. I just thought that…"

Spencer asks eagerly, "Just thought what?"

I say hesitantly so I can run out of the room if she charges at me, "That…you…liked…her?"

She replies loudly, "No! What are you kidding? Dude, I don't swing that way."

I try to ease myself back into the "nice brother" mode. I say, "Okay. Okay." I wait a few moments then say, "Oh damn."

She pulls her bangs away from her face and asks, "What?"

"If you were gay, that means we finally have something in common!" I smile widely, but she's missing the joke. I say, "We both like girls!"

She quickly bends over to grab a flip flop from her floor and chucks it towards me as I run directly out of the room. Without looking, I run down the stairs to get away from any flying shoes coming towards me.

I wait for her to close her bedroom door to know its safe to walk back up. I walk back up the stairs to go into my bedroom.

She must hear my feet through the door. She says, "Get a life Glen!"

I reply, "As soon as you get one!" I laugh to myself as I pace down the hall and into my bedroom.

What a wonderful sister.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Spencer's POV**

Damn. Damn…Damn.

What did I just get myself into?

I should've just told him. It would've made things easier…or at least I think it would've. But who knows. Who knows who he would've told and then my plan would get all messed up. I can't have that. I need for my plan to work so I can be happy.

I just want to be happy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_2 days later_

**Ashley's POV**

I read off of the paper in front of me:_ Major Greek gods and goddesses. Poseidon_.

I mumble to myself, "God of the sea. Considered responsible for shipwrecks and drownings. Brothers are Zeus and…"

I hear Kyla's knock on the door. I turn my head and begin to beg, "Kyla can you help me study? I got a big exam tomorrow and I really need to pass it."

She slowly walks into my room. She asks, "You're doing that badly that you need to pass this test?"

I bit my lip. I really don't want to tell her what I have because she wouldn't be too happy.

She asks, "What's the damage?"

I cough, trying to procrastinate the news, "C…+"

Her eyes widen as she says, "Ashley!"

I defend myself, "I have all A's in the other classes, it's just this one. The teacher is a mmm."

I can tell by her looks she knows it's not a good mmm. She says, "She can't be that bad." She grabs the paper from my hand and quickly glances at it. She makes a "this is easy" look.

I say quickly, "You wanna bet? She takes silly points off of things on anything that's graded and it's bringing my grade down."

She scoffs her voice, "Then actually do the work correctly, then you won't be complaining."

"Kyla, listen to me, this teacher is out to get me. I haven't gotten anything higher than a B on a graded assessment in her class. She hates me. "

"Oh please. Stop being so dramatic. She doesn't hate you. No one could hate you."

I scoff my voice, "She does! This is the same teacher who kept assigning all of those detentions to me!"

A light bulb turns on in her head, "Oh! Mrs. Steak or whatever her name is?"

I correct her, "It's Stark and yes, that's her."

She has a sneaky smile on her face as she says, "Well, I told you what to do about her."

My mind races to find the answer to that. I finally just blurt out, "What?"

She pops her gum in her mouth as she looks closely at the paper. She speaks, "Just slip a little ex-lax or something when she's not looking. That'll teach her and if it doesn't, then I don't know what to say."

I say in an obnoxious tone, "Yea that's a really good idea, Kyla."

Kyla studies the sheet and flips it back and forth to examine it well. She questions, "Is this what you have to study?"

"Yea. It's so freakin hard. I need you to study with me."

She looks at me with a dumbfounded face. She asks, "This? This is hard? Believe me, this is the easy stuff. Wait until you get into Pre-Calc."

I get easily annoyed with that comment, but refuse to act on a comeback. Instead I persist, "Well, then study with me so that I don't think it's hard anymore."

She agrees and clears her throat. She speaks, " Who is Ceres?"

I try to recall the answer from viewing it just a couple minutes ago. I utter out, "The goddess of wisdom and…war?"

She makes a disappointed face and says, "No. Looks like someone's gonna be studying tonight." She picks herself up from the bed and throws the paper at me. She walks directly towards the door.

I say quickly, "That's it? I thought you were going to help me!"

She says in a snotty style, "I got homework too, ya know."

I throw the paper behind me out of anger. Now I'm never gonna pass this test. I yell, "Did I ever tell you how much I love you, Kyla!"

She yells from down the hall, "Like a heart attack!"

I glance around my room, trying to figure out what my next move should be. I don't feel like studying, even though I know I won't pass the thing if I don't, but I really have no idea what to do other than that.

I walk out of my room and down the hall, towards the stairs. I scream, "Mom! Where's the Ex-lax!"

***

_The next day_

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The clock is ticking down and I only have a few minutes on the clock. This was the longest test I've ever had to take, but I'm so thankful my mom was willing to study with me last night. But she doesn't know what I have in that class and I'm going to try to keep it that way until I figure out a way to get it up before finals…in three weeks.

I fill in the last bubble on the scantron and then gladly slide out of my seat to walk to her desk. She gives me the same look she's given me the past two years. The one that says, "I've got you so good and you can't do anything about it." Teachers.

Before I even settle down into my seat, the bell rings, causing everyone to rush their work and hand it in as soon as they can. I gather my books together and begin to get out of my seat. Spencer rushes her words, "Hey, wait for me please?"

How could I deny Spencer—the one who makes my heart flutter? I say calmly, "Yea sure."

She bites her tongue as she scribbles her name on the top of the page. She puts her pencil away and puts her things together. She slides them under her arm and puts the test in the other hand to place on the teacher's desk. We walk out of the doorway and she says, "He can you stay after with me today? I gotta finish up a project for history and I need some help from my teacher." Our feet are in sync with each others as we walk slowly down the hall.

Sweet! I get extra time to hang out with her. I say, "Yea sure. Do you need a ride home?"

"Only if Glen's not able to pick me up."

"Do you want to meet up at my locker…your locker?"

She nods her head, "My locker's fine."

I suggest, "Well is it alright if we stop by Mrs. Stark's room first? I want to pick up the test before she leaves."

She enthusiastically says, "Oh yea! I forgot. Damn my memory is terrible. Yea, let's stop by her room first because I want to see how I did on it." There is a moment of silence between us. "Wasn't that test ridiculous?"

I explain, "I studied, but I think it was way too long, considering we didn't learn that much."

She quietly giggles. She speaks, "Yea you're right."

The hallways are clearing out in front of ours, meaning the bell is going to ring any second. I'm not even close to my next class, but I don't care. All I care about is the present and her presence.

Her next class is only a few feet away. She walks even slower to get into her classroom. She says, "See ya later."

I smile and wave, "Yes you will."

***

The last bell rings and I race to group my books together. A good majority of the class leaves before I can get out and I know that's not good. The hallways are small and everyone is racing off to wherever it is that they're going: sports, clubs or home. Whatever the case may be. And I'm this little freshman trying to get through masses of built jocks. Do the math.

After a good three minutes of squeezing my way through the halls, I finally step in front of my locker. I look to my right to see if Spencer is by her locker, but she's not. I open my lock and shove all of my books in there, not caring as to where they land. I take my phone and iPod out of my locker and then hook the lock back into place and shut the door. I look around, only seeing a few people here and there, but not Spencer.

I take out my phone and quickly turn it on. It takes a while to boot up. As I anxiously wait for my phone, Aiden walks towards me. He asks, "Hey, do you need a ride?"

"Hey what's up? I haven't seen you in a while. And no, I'm waiting for Spencer, but thanks."

He gets closer to me and speaks very quietly, "Hey are you and Spencer…?"

I act like a straight girl, "No! What are you kidding? Why would you think that?"

He explains, "Well you guys are always with each other and laughing and I see the way you look at her all eye glazing or whatever you call it. That's why we don't get much time anymore to just hang like before."

I speak, "Umm…no. You must be on crack or something because we are NOT going out." I'm pretty sure I would be aware if we were. I would be the happiest person in the world.

He throws his hands up, acting innocent, "Okay. Okay. Whatever. I gotta go, but I'll see ya later?"

I feel sorry now. Spencer has become a good majority of my life and it's affecting my other friendships. I say, "Yea. Text me whenever. We need to hang out."

He walks slowly towards the end of the hall as he says, "Okay. Bye, Ash."

"Bye, Aiden."

My mind's going a mile a minute now, but I need to find Spencer. I turn around and see she's finally at her locker. I catch her eye and she smiles at me. There's that smile.

I walk slowly over to her to give her enough time to pack whatever she needs so we can head to Mrs. Starks.

She throws her backpack over her shoulder and begins to stack loads of books into her hands. I suggest, "Here, stop being a hog and give me some of them." I pull a few heavy books from her hands and I can tell she is thankful,

I ask, "How do you have so much homework?"

She explains, "I have projects for 3-out-of-4 of my classes. Kill me now."

I would never.

"Can I help in anyway?"

She smiles as she closes her locker. "Just keep me company while I do my history project."

That's fine with me.

"Ok."

We start walking down the hall rather quickly. I need to get my test back. I worked my buns off and I deserve to see my grade.

The classroom is not too far from our lockers so we get within 10 feet of the classroom promptly. Immediately, we see the lights are turned off in the classroom and it is vacant. What a—!

I groan loudly, "You've gotta be kidding me. This is how I get repaid for studying? She promised she was going to be here, but obviously I guess she did it to piss me off. Well, she succeeded."

Spencer tries to calm me, "Let's just go. I don't need you damaging anything with your frustrations."

I groan one more time and then I just walk down the hall as Spencer follows me.

I wait a good minute and then I let it rip, "Out of all the days to leave early, she picks the one that I needed her the most."

Spencer sighs, "Alright, enough Ashley. There's no point in getting mad over this. Maybe there's a good explanation."

I scoff my voice, "Yea. Screw Ashley Over Day. Oh wait. That's everyday."

Spencer tries not to laugh, but my facial expressions do it for her.

We turn the corner and begin walking down a new hall. We both see the janitor's door is wide open. It never is. It's like they're hiding dead bodies or something in there.

We walk slowly towards the door and peak our heads in. We both get a good view of the most disgusting thing on planet Earth.

Spencer and I step back a bit. Spencer says, "I think I'm gonna barf."

I simply nod my head in agreement and hold my hand over my mouth to stop any particles from projecting out. "Isn't she married? And like 60?"

I say in a disgusted tone, "Yea."

"And they were using tongue!"

"Alright Spencer! Let's get out of here before I completely get sick."

We turned around the other way to go down a different hall.

Spencer says sarcastically, "I guess she did have something more important than helping out her students!"

I scoff, "Yea. She's getting super friendly with her co-worker." A moment of silencer goes by. "Oh my God! That is just so…"

An epiphany just occurred and it feels magical.

"That's it! That's my answer to my problems!"

Spencer looks at me confusedly, "What?"

I stop her to explain my devious plan, "If I get a bad grade on this test or any upcoming ones because of stupid mistakes that I don't really do, then I can blackmail her."

Spencer catches on, "Oh my…"

"Then I can say to her, 'If you keep up your little grading system of yours for my assignments, then I'm gonna let your little secret of yours, out'."

Spencer smiles widely, "Ashley, you are genius." We continue to walk again as we soak in the news and plan.

I say sarcastically, "I know. I know."

But now I gotta figure out why such an old, mean lady like her can get more action than me.

----------------------------------------------------------------


	10. Truth Be Told

**I'm gonna try to explain this as well as I can right now. Chapters 1-11 of this fic, I wrote a long time ago and posted them on another website which made it very easy for me to update on this site every few days. So after I post chapter 11, it'll be a while before I get another update posted because I haven't written chapter 12, 13 and so on yet. Does that make any sense or am I just talking to myself? lol Well even if you didn't retain that, enjoy the update anyway :D**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**Chapter 10: Truth Be Told**

**Spencer's POV**

Ashley's car pulls up to my house. I wait until she fully stops the car to get out. As I open the door I show gratitude, "Thanks so much again for the ride Mrs. D." I show a smile with sincerity.

Ashley cuts in and says sarcastically, "Alright Spencer. Stop being a kiss up. You won't get brownie points for that." I jump out of the car, grabbing my backpack to swing onto my shoulders.

I joke, "Eh. It was worth the try." I start to pile the books between both of my hands.

Ashley asks as she unbuckles her seatbelt and opens the car door, "Do you need help with those?" She's around the car within a few seconds, taking a good amount of my things from my hands.

Ashley turns around to start walking towards my front door. I groan out as I struggle to close the door in front of me.

I succeed and say, "Bye Mrs. D."

She replies with a genuine smile, "Bye honey."

She's so sweet. I wish Mom were like that. Well, she used to be.

I waddle towards my steps to drop the books on the porch. I pull out my key from my pocket to crack open the lock. I twist the knob and push the door in for Ashley to walk in. I drop the key back in my pocket and pick up my books.

As I step into my house, Ashley asks, "Where should I put these?"

"Right there is fine." I nod my head at the ground connecting to the ledge near the door.

She plops the books onto the floor and as I try to squeeze in past her, her arm flails up and twirls as her body tries to follow. Instead of twirling around, her hand hits me in the chest. Actually, she got a good feel for what's there, by accident of course.

To not make this any awkward than it is, I try to apologize before she does, but instead, words come out of both of our mouths, "I'm sorry."

I have my mouth open, but I'm inaudible. I don't know what to say or do. I've never been in this position…with a girl at least.

She urges her words, "No, really I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. It's just…" She throws her hands up in the air. "These things have a mind of their own. They just do whatever they wish to."

I furrow my eyebrows as she scrambles her words around, looking very cute being nervous.

"Wait, that sounded wrong." She bites her lip, waiting for a response from me.

I shake my head gently as I say, "It's okay. It was an accident. I know you weren't trying to feel me up." Or was she…?

She takes a breath in to speak, but she pauses, with her mouth open wide. "Okay then. I'm gonna go now before I make this any more embarrassing for the both of us." She walks around my body to walk out the door. She pivots her body a little while on the first step and says, "Bye."

I say softly, "Bye."

I drop my stack of books next to the ones previously put on the floor. I close the door as soon as I can to stop more cold from coming in. I slide my backpack off my shoulders and onto the piles of books. I shed my jacket, allowing the warm air to hit my body. My body shivers a bit from the temperature transition.

I make a hook out of my finger as I carry my jacket to the coat rack.

Even though it's been probably a solid three months since Dad and there's no way I could forgive him for what he did to me and mom and this family, I demanded Mom to keep his jackets on the same coat rack as ours. It feels like there is still an essence of innocence if his jackets are hanging up as usual. Color me crazy, I know.

Whenever I would come home from school when I was little, I would see his jacket hung up. Then I would run towards him all giddy and jump up into his arms. He would kiss me on the cheek and I would say, "I missed you, Daddy."

And of course, like the sweet dad he was, he said, "I missed you more, honey."

I shake myself out of my daze to hook my jacket on top of the rest. I study Dad's sport's jacket on the designated hook. The purely black jacket with a hint of dust on the top, hangs there primly and properly.

I slip it off the hook and wrap it around my body. I let it dangle off my body as I close my eyes to reminisce his presence.

I was outside, in the backyard of my old house. It was summer time. I can still smell the fresh, crisp air pass under my nose. The newly planted flowers filled the aroma of the area. I was about five and was climbing up the unstable structure Glen and I called our tree house. Glen was counting out loud, while his back was towards me and I was trying to hide from him.

"1…2…"

I said out loud, "Count slower Glen!"

He was counting to twenty, but I knew I had to take my time hiking up that tree so I didn't fall.

"10…11…"

I was half way up that tree at that point. I had to make better time so Glen couldn't see one foot dangling out of the opening to the house.

I raced up the rest of the tree and secured myself in.

"Ready or not here I come!"

I peaked my head out of the corner of the "window" opening. I giggled to myself as his head turns every which way, looking for me. He paces to the right and was quickly out of my view.

I shuffled across the wood flooring to the other window. I slide the cloth we draped over the window to peak my eyes out once again to stare him down, but he wasn't in my sight of vision.

I quickly crawled to the other window, trying not to make too much noise. I didn't care if he saw me this time so I just used my whole arm to peak my head out completely.

There was still no sign of him.

I turned my head to look at the previous window and I saw this male figure, standing next to me. He had a sly grin on his face and ran at me to tag me. He screams, "Gotcha!"

"Glen you scared me! I thought you left me!"

Before I finished the full sentence, he was half way down the ladder. I sat up to follow him and repeat this cycle again, except I had to find him. I placed my feet on the top rung, preparing myself to climb down slowly.

I heard Glen yell from the ground, "Daddy!" His feet rustled in the grass as he ran to Dad.

Dad hadn't been home in four days because of a business trip. He hadn't been gone for more than a day at that point in my life and I was more than sad I couldn't see him on a daily basis.

I missed the one who tucked me in and kiss me goodnight. The one who wiped the tears away after falling down. So you could say I was more than thrilled to see him again.

As soon as I heard Dad say, "Hey buddy," as he wrapped his arms around Glen, I began to race down the tree.

I kept my attention on the rungs as Dad walked towards me and said, "Hey munchkin."

I was still closer to the tree house than the ground at that point and I wanted to get down as soon as I could. But the next step I took, my foot didn't grasp the wooden rung and I felt myself falling immediately.

As my body hit a surface, I quickly realized it wasn't the ground. I was safe and sound in my father's arms. He asked concernedly, "You okay kiddo?"

It's funny; I always thought Dad was going to be there for me when I fall. Fall down; fall for a prank…

Fall in love.

But some things just don't turn out the way someone hopes they do.

I snap back into reality with Dad's jacket still hanging off of me. I suddenly feel a slight tingle on my left arm. I reach into the left pocket of the jacket to find what tickled me.

I extract a folded up piece of paper from the pocket. I look at it curiously as I begin to unfold the message seeded in it. I unfold the last part and read off: **Linda 325-555-1902 call me**

I rip the note into shreds and throw it to the ground. I slam the coat to the floor and then angrily open both garage doors: the one leading to the garage and the one leading outside. I trudge through the garage and out into the cold air of an Ohio winter.

I pick up the trash can lid and throw it to the ground, causing it to make an imprint in the snow-covered ground. I chuck the black garbage-filled bags onto the ground as well. I rip away the metal garbage pail from its previous position to drag it through the garage and into the house.

I slam the pail down on the floor and begin to strip the coats off the rack. I stuff all of the coats into the garbage pail and use all of my strength to push them down as far as they can go. I slide over the pail to pick up the previously torn paper. I sprinkle the remains of the note right on top of the rest of the garbage in there.

I swing open the laundry room door and then struggle to carry the pail. I use my anger to drive the pail right outside directly in front of the garage opening. I lightly jog back into the garage and scatter through the fridge. Vodka. Vodka. Vodka…where are you?

Aha! I snatch the vodka from the lower left compartment and close the fridge door behind me as I walk away, back to the outside world.

It's a brand new bottle of vodka, but I don't care about using it all. It's for a good cause and it'll be less for Mom to used later. I wait as I watch the last bits of the vodka trickle out of the bottle and onto the fully soaked jackets.

There's a little less than a sip of it, hanging off the cavity, not wanting to drip down. I take a good lick of it.

Yuck! How do people drink that! That was my very first taste of alcohol and I'm pretty sure it's going to be my last. That was so utterly disgusting, but I couldn't let it go to waste, of course.

I toss the bottle to the left of me as it lands on the blanket-soft snow. I push the pail all the way down the driveway and onto the very beginning of the road. I rush into the house to find a box of matches in the cabinet.

I spot them immediately, but they are out of length's reach for me. I grab a chair from the kitchen and climb up to the very top level of the cabinet. I seize the box and jump off the chair quickly.

I race to the pail and keep an adequate distance between the soon-to-be explosion and me. I pull a match from the box and quickly swipe the outside of the box to get the perfectly formed flame. I toss the wooden stick into the pail and watch the flames engulf the jackets.

I feel a sense of relief watching the jackets burn in front of my eyes. It's like Dad's getting back what he did to us. He burned this family so bad and I don't think that'll ever change, sadly enough.

I cross my arms against my chest as my breath appears in the air while I watch smoke arise from the scene.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my left eye, I see white car with flashing red and blue lights. Crap. I'm going to jail for sure now. Wait…who called the cops on me!

I try to act as natural as possible as the car slowly pulls up towards the house. Before he completely reaches the front of the house, I quickly try to throw snow into the pail to sort of diffuse the fire. I get a stupid card for the day.

I brush off the excess snow from my hands and wait patiently for the officer to do his duty—whatever that may mean at this point. He parks the car and turn off the ignition. He steps out and immediately tips hi hat at me once he sees me. That must be a good sign…right? He reaches his arm out to open the back door of the car.

And out steps…Mom.

Damn. What did she do now? She walks towards me, demanding me to get inside because it's too cold out.

I say, "Where were you?"

She is either refusing to answer me or she's too drunk to realize I asked her a question.

The officer walks closer to Mom and me and I immediately recognize the cop. It's Officer Arthur Carlin…or better known as Dad's cousin. I don't know him too well, considering the only time I really spent time with him was during the holidays when both families got together to celebrate.

He speak to me politely, "Hello Spencer."

Since I don't really know him well enough, I think it's only polite to reply by saying, "Hello Mr. Carlin."

Ugh. That sounds oddly familiar. The same name I was trying to get rid of a few minutes ago.

He asks as he looks at the pail in a strange manner, "A bonfire, I'm assuming?"

I play along with it because I don't want to say the real reason there's a fire in front of our house with Mom standing right next to me. I say, "Yup. I was just about to call over a few friends to roast some marshmallows, tell stories…you know the usual things teens do around here in the midst of Winter in Ohio."

Mom jumps in, "You better not be. You better get your little butt inside or you'll be grounded."

She's super feisty today, but also too drunk to realize what she's saying.

I offer, "Mom, why don't you go inside and I'll take care of the fire while you make Mr. Carlin, here, a nice hot cup of coffee?" I create a phony smile for her to fall for.

She says, "Anything for the nice gentleman." She smiles and then quickly turns around to go inside. She'll end up on the couch before she even gets the coffee prepared. I know that for a fact.

I look back at Officer Carlin and try to ease some tension between us. I try to laugh off as I say, "Isn't she a hoot? Ah…she cracks me up." I wait a few moments then I say, "Thank you so much for bringing her home. She'll be fine in my hands. It was nice seeing you by the way."

I turn around and begin to walk towards the garage. He raises his voice, "How long has it been?"

What is he talking about? I turn around, staring at him as I ask confusedly, "How long has it been for what?"

"Since your mother has been trying to drink her sorrow away?"

I say angrily, "She's just fine."

He stays calm as he notices I'm becoming enraged. "No she's not Spencer."

I yell, "She was just fine before you brought her over here."

I revolve quickly and begin to stamp towards the garage.

He raises his voice again to get my attention, "I'm offering to bring her to an AA meeting, if you don't mind."

I don't want anyone butting into our lives—not even a certified cop or whatever his title is. We're doing just fine without him. Besides, Glen and I like the freedom we get when we don't have to ask her to go out anymore. I say in a phony tone, "That's very sweet of you, but I think she'll do just fine without your services."

I rotate around and repeat the same steps as before.

He asks in a calm tone, "Do you know why your mom was taken down the station?"

I say sarcastically and have an evil smile on my face for some reason, "Because she was piss drunk?"

He says in a serious tone, "She was threatening to kill herself, Spencer."

My heart sank into my stomach and almost out my…

I watch clouds of air form in the sky as I breathe out, "What? Why would she do such a thing?"

He takes off his hat and runs his hand through his hair. "I'm not really sure, Spencer, but you want to know what happened?" My jaw is slowly dropping, waiting for what exactly happened. "All she kept saying was, 'I'm a failure.' 'My kids don't love me anymore.' And 'They'd be better off if I wasn't here.'"

Tears begin in my eyes and I can't do anything to stop them from falling. He stands there, in a sullen tone, not knowing what to say or do. I rapidly wipe the tears from my eyes and cheeks to show him I'm strong. "I—I don't really know what to say to that."

"I didn't either, but your Mom really cares about you guys and she obviously doesn't like living the life she does with drink and all. You and Glen should really consider sending her to an AA meeting."

I blurt out, "Consider? No. She's going to the meetings whether she likes it or not." I wipe the drippings away from my nose with my arm. "Can you bring her to the first one at least?"

He says sincerely, "I'd be more than happy to. I just want to see you guys happy again."

I walk up to him to give him a big, warm-hearted hug. He really deserves it for wanting to help us out when he didn't need to. "Thank you so much, Mr. Carlin." I pull away from him and give him a little space.

He tries to say seriously, "Hey, you better stop calling me Mr. Carlin. It makes me feel old and I'm not that old."

I chuckle lightly. It's a bit of comic relief from hearing the news I just did. I say, "Sorry, Arthur."

"Ha-ha. Okay. Well, I'll stop be tomorrow to pick up your mom around 3:30? Is that good?"

"It's perfect. We'll see you then."

"Ok, bye Spencer."

"Bye."

We both turn around, going our separate ways. For some reason, I feel more satisfied with what's to come with the meetings than the fire I started not that long ago. Something's finally being accomplished.

He opens his car door, but before entering he says, "Hey Spencer?"

I turn around, "Yea?"

He says in an exhausted way, "Don't be starting anymore fires, please? Otherwise I'm going to have to punish you."

I laugh, "Okay. I promise I won't."

I hear him step into his car and drive off. I then begin to bring big bucket of water outside to put out the flames. I dump the remains of the jackets onto the sidewalk. Eh. The jackets didn't survive, but thankfully the pail did. I let the pail cool off for a bit before putting the garbage back into it. I lay the burnt remains nicely onto the garbage and then pack everything in as I shove the lid onto the pail.

One down, one to go.

I walk through the garage and into the house, shutting the garage on the way in. I scuff my feet onto the floor to remove the excess snow on my shoes. I walk into the living room, immediately noticing Mom lying on the couch, asleep. Even though she won't realize I'm doing it, I walk up to her and wrap my arms around her, giving her a big hug. I whisper into her ear, "I love you, Mom."

It's a start, at least.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_The next day: English class_

**Ashley's POV**

"Now, class, I'm going to call you up, one by one, to get your tests back," Mrs. Stark announces to the class.

Yes. Yes. Yes. The moment I've been waiting for. I know I aced this, I just need to see proof in front of my eyes.

She has a stack of papers in her hand as she stands in the front of the room, calling the first person, "Mike."

Yes! She's going in alphabetical order.

Mike walks up to the front of the classroom to grasp his paper. "Spencer."

One more to go!

Spencer walks up to the classroom and grabs her paper. She examines the grade at the top of the paper and instantly celebrates to herself by silently saying, "Yes!"

"Ashley."

I practically run up to the class to grab my paper. I flip over the sheet and instantaneously see "69" at the top of the page. My heart sinks, but at the same time, I become filled with rage beyond belief. If I don't watch it, tears are going to come out because I'm so upset.

I slowly walk back to my seat, disappointed to say the least. Spencer asks quietly, "What's the damage?"

I sit down in her seat and instead of answering her, I ask for her to hand me her paper. I take her paper in my right hand and examine both of them at the same time. I match up the red-marked ones on my paper with hers to see if Mrs. Stark graded correctly.

She didn't.

Everyone that I have wrong on my page is marked right on Spencer's and she got 100%.

I say astonished, "I can't believe that bitch did that to me."

Spencer asks, "What?"

Instead of verbally explaining, I show her the papers and point to the "wrong" ones on my page and connect them with hers.

Spencer slams down her paper with rage and storms towards Mrs. Stark with my test in her hand. Spencer puts her face within a few inches of the teacher's. She threatens, "You think you're so big and powerful that you think you can grade something however you wish, right? Wrong. I've had it up to here with your shit that you're giving Ashley." I'm in shock what Spencer is doing right now, but at the same time, I'm rooting for her to show Mrs. Stark whose boss. "It's your turn to receive the shit now. I've got you by the balls and there's nothing you can do about it. I know your little secret that you're hiding. It involves a certain staff member, if you know what I mean." The teacher's eyes grow like quarters, and so do mine with the language Spencer is dishing out. "I think you owe it to Ashley to re-grade every assignment we've done in this class and give her the grades she deserves—not the ones you think she deserves—today, preferably. And if you fail to do so, then I'm just going to have to let your secret out."

The cute and innocent Spencer has just proved herself to not be that way. Spencer slowly walks back to her desk with a big smile of pride on her face while everyone remains in shock, including me, from the previous scenario.

Side conversations quickly occur as all eyes are on the both of us. I don't care really because Mrs. Stark has learned her lesson. And the on-going operation of Screw Ashley Over is finally done. A load has been taken off my shoulders. A few moments go by and then Spencer hands me my test back. I say sarcastically, "I think you need to get another physical. I'm pretty sure you've got balls."

Spencer begins to laugh hysterically. She finally catches her breath and says, "It was a piece of cake. And it needed to be done."

I nod slowly, "Yea, true." I turn my head to look every which way around the classroom. I love how everyone is still staring at us. It makes me feel good, for some reason, even though I absolutely hate being the center of attention. I break the silence between us, "Now what?"

Spencer replies in a demanding tone, "Start getting all your tests and rubrics together. It's going to being a loooong day."


	11. Impromptu Meeting

**So guys this is the last update for a while. I'm thinking around a couple weeks until an update because school has been hectic lately :/ **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

**Chapter 11: An Impromptu Meeting **

_3 weeks later _

**Ashley's POV**

I reach over my guitar to write the words and I butcher them in a singy tone. "Through the dark I toss and turn with you it's all I can do." I wait a while for something to pop into my head, "Cause I've got my…"

The door opens immediately, without a knock to forewarn me, to reveal Kyla with a small envelope in her hand.

Without putting thought into it, I shuffle all of the papers and shove them underneath my sheets. Kyla absolutely can not see my writing/ songs. It's like having a personal journal to me.

Kyla watches my manuevers with a quite confused face. I try to act natural with my guitar slanted in my lap and a fake smile. She speaks first, "What was all that about?"

I distract her attention, "Nothing." There's a long, drawn out pause and then I finally speak. "So what did ya come in here for?"

She walks a little closer to the bed as my heartbeat heightens. Please don't remove the covers. Please dear God don't touch them.

She gently tosses the white envelope onto the bed and says, "Your report card came dummy. What did ya think I came in here for?"

I decide not to answer her because I've been waiting for this damn thing for so long that I was going to go crazy if I didn't get it soon. I anxiously grab the thing from my bed and start ripping open the package. Particles fly all over my bed as I shuffle through the unimportant flyers they always hand out with the report cards. I finally find my report card at the end of the pile.

I quickly scan through the grades to get a general overview of my status, "95…95…98…95!"

I'm so happy that I might jump out of my own skin. Instead, I jump out of my bed, all giddy, jumping up and down. "I got all A's! Oh my God!"

Kyla says in an annoyed tone, "Dude, calm down already. It's just a report card."

I stop jumping up and down right there and then. I look at her with a serious face and no smile. I say, "I see how it is." I turn my back on her quickly to walk out of the room. I say with an evil smile on my face, "You remember that when you ask me to cover for you when you hang out with Glen on those really late nights."

She yells, "Oh shut up!"

I sneer as I continue to walk down the hall and the stairs. I run into the kitchen because I know Mom is gonna be in there. I walk into the kitchen to see Mom sorting through bills and whatnot. I say in a very ethusiastic tone, "Hey Mom, guess what?"

"What Ashley?" she says in a pleasant tone.

I hand over the report card and say, "Check this out."

She places her glasses back on her head and reads off the grades, "95…95…98…95." She waits a couple seconds to let it soak in. "That's amazing honey!"

My eyes are like quarters because of all the excitement. I say ecstatically, "I know!"

She asks, "Did you tell your dad?"

"No I just got it Ma, hold your horses, I say as she hands over the piece of mail. She seems more excited than I am, but I don't think that's humanly possible. I feel like I'm on top of the world right now and nothing can stop me. "I'm gonna go put it on my wall. Oh my God this is so exciting." I jump around a little and then begin to race upstairs.

Mom yells, "Oh, Ashley?"

I stop and yell back, "Yea?"

"Spencer called before, looking for you, but you weren't home."

I utter under my breath, "The house phone? She called the house phone?" I walk down the last few steps from the stairs and retrace my steps back into the kitchen. I ask Mom, "She called the house phone?"

She picks up her head from the bills, "Yea. It seemed important. Is everything alright?"

My phone must've died while I was out. Smooth Ashley, really smooth.

I say quietly, "I don't know. I hope so."

I run upstairs and start digging through my bag, trying to find my phone. It's not in its designated position of my bag. I flip over my bag and watch everything come crashing down. I lay everything out evenly to view everything…but my phone. Damn it!

I stand up from the floor and scream, "Mom!"

She yells back, worriedly, "What?!"

I ask worriedly, "Have you seen my phone?"

I hear her voice getting closer to the bottom of the stairs, "No. Where do you remember seeing it last?"

I say rudely, "Oh please Mom. Do I ever know where anything is?" but then quickly regret it by the look on her face as if I disrespected her. I stare at her grimace for a few seconds then say, "Sorry. I just really need my phone and I just…"

…Oh…my…God

…

Please don't tell me I left it there. Just…please

I bite my lip, looking down the hallway and then hesitantly back at Mom. I utter out, "I think I left it at the mall…"

Mom screams, making her eyes bug out, "What?!"

I probably shouldn't have said that. I should've just kept my mouth shut, told Kyla, and then we would've squirmed our way out of the house to look for my phone. No, that was definitely not the right choice. I must be mentally challenged because I let an answer slip out of my mouth, "I think I left it at the mall."

Mom waits only two seconds to respond, "You better hope its still there!"

I'm so screwed.

I run back down the hall to peak into my bedroom to find out Kyla left my room. I continue down the hall a little and peak my head into her room. I say, "Kyla, can you drive me back to the mall?"

She asks rudely, "What for?"

I say quickly, "I left my freakin phone somewhere in the mall."

She yells, "You what?!"

"You heard me. Let's just go before someone takes it."

She jumps out of her bed in an angry manner, grabbing her keys on her desk and says, "You realize that report card means absolutely nothing?"

She walks right past me, nudging me in the shoulder on the way. She begins to race down the stairs as I ask, "What are you talking about?"

I chase after her quickly. I step down the last step as she stops herself at the front door. She says before opening the door, "You may be book smart, but you have absolutely no common sense." She opens the door and walks right out.

Thanks, Kyla. I really appreciate the support from a loving sister. That really good feeling has officially left me.

I walk out of the house, closing the door behind me.

***

The first place we checked was the first place we went to in the beginning. We walked right up to each cashier and I asked, "Excuse me, has a phone been found within the past hour and a half?"

And each one would say, "No, I'm sorry."

After seven or eight stores, we had exhasuted all of them…except one.

We're on our way out of the mall and I suddenly realize we missed one store.

I say, "Wait."

I walk back a few steps and turn into the store to my left. I walk right in and notice there's a long line.

Great. That's just wonderful.

I trudge my feet to the back of the line and wait ever so impatiently as the line slowly shrinks. My eyes wander around the store, looking at the clothes, accessories and especially some people. Well, one person.

I hate to say it, but there's a girl, a couple people in front of me, who has caught my eye…more than once. But she's had her back turned to me the whole time I've been in this damn thing. And to make matters worse, her appearance screams, "Straight!"

She's about my height, with dirty blond hair…like Spencer's. She seems to be around my age too. And her face is pretty…not gonna lie.

Yet, no matter what, I can't keep my eyes off of her. I see her quickly turn around to, I'm guessing, stretch out from being in the same position for so long. I move my eyes quicker than anything so she doesn't catch on that I was…checking her out.

A few seconds later, out of the corner of my eye, I see her turn back and a shiny object catches my eye. It's not a ring, either. It's my cell phone…or at least one that is like mine.

What if it is mine? Do I go up and ask her?

The line moves up one person and I notice, if I make a move, it's going to have to be quick because she's the next person to be checked out.

I shake my leg in place and squirm a little, trying to get the courage to just walk up to her. The problem is, I'm going to choke and I'm never going to find out if that's my phone.

I peak my head over the kid in front of me to see there are only a few items of clothing to go for the person in front of her.

Just do it.

I walk right up to the girl and kindly ask, "Excuse me, can I see that phone really quick?"

She says in a sweet voice, "Yea, sure. It's not mine anyway. I just found it in the fitting room." She puts her hand out, allowing me to grab it.

Before I flip the phone open, I say," Really?!"

She nods her head.

I open the phone and immediately see: THREE MISSED CALLS

It must be something really important for Spencer to call me that many times. I exit out of the screen and start going through the contacts to make sure this is my phone. Two seconds later, I see the first contact is Aiden. Thank God.

I look at the girl with an ecstatic face and say, "Thank you so much. I don't know how to repay you."

She asks confusedly, "For what?"

"I was the idiot who left this in the fitting room about an hour ago. And if I didn't find this, my mom would have me by the neck."

She scrunches her face, "Oooh. I'm glad I found it, then."

My eyes widden, "Yes, I'm really glad you did, too. I owe you."

She says nicely, "Oh, no you don't. It was nothing. I should be repaying you back."

I'm the confused one now, "What?"

She explains while making a disappointed face, "I feel so bad. If I knew you were looking for your phone, which was the one in my hand, I would've given it to you sooner, instead of making you stand in line that whole time, worrying your brains out."

I try to encourage her, "Nah, that's silly. There was no way you could've known I was in line—"

The cashier says, "Excuse me miss," which cues her to move up and begin to check out.

I try to finish this nice conversation, "Well, I'll let you check out and thank you so much again for saving my life." I laugh nervously as I take a couple steps towards the exit.

She drops her things onto the counter and then says mysteriously, "Wait, I'm not letting you off that easily. You still owe me." I nervously wait for whatever is going to come out of her mouth. "Are you going to at least let me know your name?"

I laugh nervously and say, "My name's Ashley."

She smiles, "I'm Riley. It's nice to meet you Ashley."

I smile really wide, "Right back at ya."

She glances back at the guy swiping the items to make sure he's still doing his job. She makes another move, "Can I get your number, I mean since you've got your phone back and all?"

My heart sinks and then flutters back up to it's previous position. I'm getting butterflies in my stomach right now and they're swarming around vigorously. I'm still in a little bit of shock so I just utter out, "Yea that's cool."

She says, "Well, I'll give you mine first."

I open my phone and prepare to put a new contact in my phone.

"954…"

As I hear the numbers being projected towards me, I say to myself, "Maybe this whole losing my phone thing isn't so bad after all…"

***

I spend the whole car ride thinking about that girl, without realizing why I went to get my phone. Finally, it hits me right smack in the face. I was supposed to call Spencer back.

I step out of the car and check my missed calls: Aiden, Spencer, Mom. All of them are in chronological order. Why would Aiden call me, though?

I quickly dial Spencer's number and hear it ring a few times. Finally, I hear her voice at the other end, "Hello?" I walk through the open door.

I ask, anxiously waiting for an answer, "Spencer? Is there something wrong? Both you and Aiden called me. And you called my house…" I shut the door behind me.

Spencer speaks quietly, "Shannon broke up with Aiden."

I scream, "What?!"

Spencer says in a shocked tone, "I know! I can't believe it either. She told him she didn't love him anymore. I mean how can someone just suddenly stop having feelings for someone they obviously cared about a lot?"

I breathe out, "I don't know. I-I just can't believe she did that. They were so happy together." I walk into the kitchen, which is currently an unoccupied area.

Spencer agrees, "I know. I just feel so bad for Aiden, you know?"

I say quickly, "Oh my God. How is he doing?"

She sighs and hesitates her words, "Not good, Ash. He's really torn up. He's in tears right now."

My heart breaks hearing that. I let out, "Jeez," as I run my hand through my hair. "Where are you guys?"

She informs, "My house."

I glance at the clock over the stove and then say, "I'll be over in five minutes. I'll see what I can do to…cheer him up I guess."

She replies, "Alright, I'll see ya in a little bit."

"Bye."

This is not good at all. Aiden never cries. I've never seen one single tear fall from his eye in the 10+ years that I've known him. This is…scaring me right now...a lot.

I pivot and start pacing to the door. I quickly open and shut the door to begin my journey to Spencer's house...a few houses away.

It takes me less than a minute to reach her house, at my pace, and soon enough, I'm ringing her doorbell. A couple seconds later, Spencer opens the door, greeting me and allowing me to step in the house. The blast of warm feels good and cozy, considering the environment I'm going to be facing soon.

I strip my jacket from my body and lay it down near my shoes that I slip off as well. I ask in a whispery tone, "Where is he?"

She answers, "My room." She starts to walk towards the stairs.

I purposefully say something funny, "Spencer Carlin has a boy in her bedroom?!"

She says with a smile, "Shut up."

I had to say it. It's my way of "mentally preparing" for what I'm about to go through.

We walk up to the bedroom in a relatively small amount of time. Once we arrive at her room, I slowly enter first and say to Aiden, who has his head dipped down as he sits on her bed, "Hey Aiden." Spencer closes the door behind me, leaving me alone in the room with Aiden.

He says sullenly, "Hey Ash."

I walk over to the bed and plop a seat right next to him. I wrap my right arm over him and rub his arm like a caring friend. I ask, "What's going on, Aiden?"

He replies with an attitude, "You know what's going on."

I exaggerate, "Aiden..." I take in a deep breath. I plead, "No really, what's up? Tell me what's going through your head."

Aiden sits there, looking like he's contemplating whether or not he should spill his guts. I don't know why he thinks he shouldn't. He knows I've got his back. It's been that way for years and I'm not gonna let that change.

After a few moments, he says, "Shannon dumped me."

I bite my lip, holding back from responding. I'm not sure if Aiden knows I already know. Wait—he must because he was snappy with me a few seconds ago when I asked him what was going on. I answer quietly, "I know. I'm sorry to hear that."

He suddenly gets up from the bed and says angrily, "But it doesn't even matter anymore. It's over. She's moved onto another guy." He shies his face away from me.

I plead, "Is that why she broke up with you?"

He continues with an angry manner, "She didn't have to. I caught her sharing saliva with another guy."

I yell, "With who?!"

He says in a disgusted way, "Some tool from Union Hill. Jake said he's some "hotshot" on the football team."

I'm a little confused right now. When did Jake all of a sudden enter the picture? I utter, "Huh?"

He explains, "Jake, Sean and I went to the movies cause we had nothing better to do and we spotted the two right when we stepped in."

I ask, "Does she know that you know?"

Aiden says clearly, "Nope. We left as soon as we saw them."

I'm getting there...I only need a few more pieces to the puzzle and I might be able to help him. I clear my throat and then ask, "Then you went home or...?"

He's easing up a bit, which was my original goal in order to sort of distract him from his pain. He turns and looks at me, for once, and says, "I spent a while with the guys because I didn't want to go home after that. I wouldn't have been able to handle it. And of course the whole time, the guys were trying their best to cheer me up. They kept saying, 'You're too good enough for her,' and 'She's not worth your time.'." He stands there, pondering what he just said. "You know what she meant to me? Absolutely everything. I would've done anything for that girl, my god I would've married her if she told me to."

I interrupt, "Alright Aiden. That's taking it a little too far."

He cuts me off, "But it's the truth. I loved her so much and for her to just treat it likes its nothing is killing me right now."

I say calmly, "Aiden, I can't know what you're feeling right now. You're hurt, sad, shocked, and mad and many more on top of that, but you gotta realize that if she's gonna treat you like that, then she's not worth it. No—"

He becomes sharp quickly, "Ash, you have no absolutely no idea how I feel right now so don't even give me all that crap. I've heard enough of it."

He turns his body and opens the door violently.

I jump up from the bed and grab his arm and yell, "Aiden! This is hard for you, but that shouldn't mean you can be a bitch to me."

He fights back, "What do you want me to say, Ash? That I'm completely over her? That I can just walk away from this and go back to a normal life—without Shannon in it? Well I can't because she's still in my life, just in a different way now. I still have to break up with her and that's gonna be the hardest thing about this whole thing—saying goodbye."

I try to find some good, "It's not goodbye forever."

His voice cracks, "Yes it is. I can't let her back in again, even if it is as a friend. I can't go through this kind of pain again." I can see it in his face that it's getting harder for him to hold the tears back.

I say the only thing that comes to mind, "If that's what you need to do, then do it, but don't do anything that you'll regret later."

He sniffles and then sorta laughs. Aiden says, "I think its too late for that. I asked Shannon out over a year ago and now I regret it."

I try to get his mind ouf of the gutter. I say, "Don't be like that. You don't regret going out with Shannon, I know it. You still love her and you probably will always love her, but when the perfect girl comes around, Shannon will just become a pigment of your imagination."

He jokes, "Can that perfect girl come sometime soon?" He laughs and grabs a tissue to wipe his nose.

I speak honestly, "I hope she does come soon for you. You deserve her."

He bows his head slightly and kinda shakes it for a moment. He picks up his head and looks into my eyes. He says quietly, "Did I ever tell you what a great friend you are?"

I joke in a conceited way, "No. I already know what a good friend I am." I make a big grin on purpose, which causes him to chuckle.

He tosses the tissue into a pail filled with rolled up tissues. Jeez.

I change the topic and whisper, "Did Spencer say anything to you…about anything at all?"

He ponders a little and says, "No. Why?"

I answer, "I don't know. She just seems off lately, but I don't know what it is."

The tables have turned and Aiden's the one giving advice. He responds, "Then just ask her about it."

I scuff, "What are you kidding? I can't just ask her if something's up because if there isn't, then I'll feel bad."

"Then talk about important stuff, alone, and see if she brings up anything. I don't know what to say."

I think about it a little and then blurt out, "Eh. It's probably nothing or just that time of the month for her." I chuckle, but Aiden doesn't find it funny.

Aiden responds and he grabs the doorknob to walk out, "And that's my cue to leave the premises."

I play around with him as I grab the closest thing to me—a softcover book—and chuck it towards him. He scurries away quickly and shuts the door, causing the book to ricochet off the door instead of him, I like planned.

I shake my head as I have a smile on my face and walk over to the book that is open and lying, face-down on the floor. I pick up a book as I watch a piece of paper fall out. I toss the book on the bed and open the paper like the nosy person I am. I peak my eyes in and read off, "I know she likes me. I can feel it."

WHAT?! Someone's trying to go after my woman?! Well, she's not my woman, but I'll be damned if anyone even thinks of going after her…wait—Spencer's gay?!

What the hell is going on?!

I grab the book and fold the paper back up and stick it into the book. I toss the book back on the bed and walk out of the room in a very dazed and confused manner.

Is Spencer talking about me?

----------------------------------------------------------

_The next day_

New classes today! New classes today! I'm so excited! And first class is Biology. After that I have Art, Spanish and of course, math that is too hard for me to understand. Its gonna be a really fun semester…besides the math of course, but I'll get over it. Right now I gotta get to my class.

I turn the corner and enter into the Bio room where I see a bunch of people huddled up in front of the class, waiting for the teacher to assign the seats. Why must teachers assign us seats? Do they honestly think we're still five?

A few seconds after I step into the classroom, the bell rings. The teacher immediately calls out each name and points to where they are seated. He says loudly, "Spencer Carlin."

Yes! Alphabetical order, which means I might have a shot at sitting next to Spencer. I gotta ask her about that paper from yesterday. Maybe not. It's probably best to not say anything. She obviously doesn't want me to know because she would've told me by now, right?

"Ashley Davies?" The tall, dark-haired man with a little goatee going on, says my name and points to the seat directly next to Spencer's.

Jackpot. This is really going to be a great semester.

***

_Halfway through the period_

Mr. Pulem gave us a lab to do…on the first day of the class. That's usually not a good sign. And of course he's a brand new teacher and the newbies are always suck ups, which means the students are going to suffer from so much work.

But I figure if Spencer's in my class, no matter how much work we'll get, I'll have a decent time. She made Mrs. Stark's class the best one of the day, which was a big difference the previous year with her. I'd like to toss that whole year out of my memory.

I'm dazing out into space as Spencer works on the lab that I should be helping her with, but obviously I'm not. I can't keep concetrated.

All of a sudden, I feel this slight tingle on the top of my thigh. It feels magically.

I look over and Spencer's hand is on top of my thigh. My heart beat just jumped 20 beats per second.

I look up at her face and see that she's not scared—she knows she has her hand there. She starts to caress my leg, which is causing tingles and jingles in places that it shouldn't be happening in. I give her sort of a death stare and ask, "Spencer, what are you doing?"

She ask with a sneaky smile, "Doesn't that feel good?"

I breathe out, "Yea."

She slowly begins to move up my leg while she watches my reaction closely. Does she realize what she's doing to me?!

I jump out of my seat and back away with a very scared look on my face. I probably look like someone just hit me with a truck.

She asks, "What's wrong?"

I ignore her and run up to the teacher's desk. I ask quickly, "May I use the bathroom?"

He nods his head and says, "Take the pass."

I grab the pass on my way out of the classroom, panting furiously.

I race down the hall saying to myself, "It's me. It has to be me from that piece of paper." I make a left into the bathroom and stand directly in front of the mirror. I say, "Where's a cold shower when you need one?"


	12. Know Your Answers

**I finally have an update guys :) and I really hope you like it :D**

**Title:** When Life Hands You Spencer Carlin  
**Author:** Accessdeniedx07  
**Author's Note: **This story is based on real-life experiences, but of course some is dramatized to make it good.  
**Pairing:** Spashley and maybe a whole bunch later  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.  
**Summary:** The beginnings of Spashley—remade

**Chapter 12: Know Your Answers **

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Previously on When Life Hands You Spencer Carlin _

_I race down the hall saying to myself, "It's me. It has to be me from that piece of paper." I make a left into the bathroom and stand directly in front of the mirror. I say, "Where's a cold shower when you need one?"_

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Ashley's POV**

Be cool. Be confident. Be…passionate?

I'm walking down the halls, back to class, coming from the bathroom. After Spencer practically felt me up, I needed a refresher so I dashed to the girl's room to splash water in my face.

I'm taking my sweet time too, strolling down the hallways. I really don't want to go back to class. I know that sounds really out of whack, but I'm so afraid of what Spencer might do next. I mean, I've always wanted her to do something like this—make an obvious move towards me—but it just doesn't seem right.

I have to talk to her after school today. I need to pull any information out of her that will tell me what she's thinking. I just want some sort of clue of what her "sneaky" plan might be.

I finally walk through the doorway into the Biology room after, what felt like an eternity, of pacing down the halls. I place the pass on the hook to the right of me and shuffle my feet across the floor and to the back of the room. Spencer has her head down, looking at the lab worksheet I left her with from before. She switches from lab to microscope and back again. She seems to be perfectly fine—nothing bothering her. What's wrong with me then?!

I walk directly to our lab table and slowly slide back onto my stool. She looks at me with a hint of smile on her face. She jokes, "Did ya fall in? You were gone an awfully long time."

I lie, "The bathrooms were busy." I wait a few seconds, and then change the subject, "Do you need help with anything?" I've become fidgety quickly, shaking my legs profusely.

She responds simply, "No I'm good." She looks at me, "I mean, unless you want to finish this up, that's fine with me."

I jump on the opportunity, "Yea, I'll finish the rest. You can just relax." I kinda force my way in to get a good view of every tool and question in front of me. Spencer sits back in her stool and watches me work. I have my back to her and, quite frankly, I'm a little scared. I pick up the slide to put under the microscope and remove the one that's under it currently.

For some reason, my body jerks towards the lab table and both slides go flying across the table. I look over to see neither of them are broken and no one witnessed my clumsiness. I walk over to the other side and pick them both up. Spencer asks in a concerned tone, "Are you okay? You seem very…"

I finish her sentence, "Worried? Yea I kinda am?"

She asks, "Why? What's wrong?"

I walk over, standing closer to Spencer as I spit it out, "How come you did that thing with my leg?"

She questions, "What? From before?"

I nod my head as an answer.

She chuckles at herself for a few seconds and then answers, "I really just wanted to know if that felt good. I don't know, but I think I saw it in a magazine or somewhere that said caressing someone's thigh really woos someone."

I take it all in. Is she using that as an excuse or is that really the truth? Maybe I'm not the girl from the note? Then who could it be?

I ask in a questionable tone, "Really?"

She nods her head and then quickly utters, "You didn't really think I was doing it to…"

I nod my head.

"Really? That would explain why you fled the room right after. But that's pretty funny." She laughs and I try to, but this whole situation has got me even more confused about Spencer's feelings. "But don't worry; I don't like you in that's sense."

I'm a rollercoaster of emotions. I think I'm actually disappointed she said she wasn't interested in me, but before I was scared for her to like me. What is going on with me?!

I blurt out, "Well that's good."

In an annoyed tone, Spencer asks, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know."

"You're saying if I liked you, it would be a bad thing?"

I quickly answer her, "No. I wasn't saying that."

"Then what were you saying?"

I take a deep breath to actually tell her the truth, but I hold myself back, "I don't know what I was trying to say. I'm just really confused right now."

She shrugs her shoulders, "You're confused? I can't even get a simply answer out of you from a simple question."

I put the lab slide underneath the scope as I explain, "It's a little more complicated than that."

Her voice is rising a little bit because she's getting annoyed with me. "How can it be complicated? It's a simple question. If I liked you, would that be a bad thing?"

I decide not to answer her. I don't know how to answer her without giving out too much information. I can't tell her I'm practically in love with her because it's not mutual. It would just put a really big damper in our friendship, which I don't want to lose at all.

Her voice rises slightly, "Are you gonna answer me?"

Now I'm getting annoyed with her, which causes me to not answer her back, again. I put my eyes against the lenses and look down at the subject.

She pesters, "Why won't you answer me?"

I take my eyes off the lenses to look at Spencer intensely. I confess, "You know, that's what I can't stand about you. Once you get something in your head, you pester on and on until you get an answer or it gets resolved. I told you, I don't have an answer to that so just drop it."

It's the truth—I don't have an appropriate answer. If I say it would be good if she liked me, that might push her away from me, but if I say it wouldn't be good, she might think she's not good enough for me. It's a lose-lose situation that I'm trying so hard to get out of.

Her tone of voice has become sharp, "All you have to say is either if would be a good thing if I liked you or a bad thing if I liked you."

I don't say anything. I walk away from the table casually to remove myself from the situation and to not make a scene by yelling.

This semester is gonna suck.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_That night_

It's around 9:30 at night and I'm in my room, on my bed, working on my Bio homework. I should've paid more attention in class, then this wouldn't be so hard to do right now. To make matters worse, I can't call up anyone to ask for homework help. Spencer hasn't talked to me since that little incident during Bio and no one else I know has that specific class.

To tell the truth, I'm not worried that Spencer and I haven't talked since. I'll let her have time to think and then I'll patch things up in class tomorrow.

I let out a groan and plop my book onto my lap. "I need a break," I murmur.

I glance around my room and my guitar case catches my eye. I place my book on the bed and climb out to walk to the case. I unzipper the case and extract my song book out of there. I flip instantly to the page with the song I'm currently working on, which I have yet to give a title. It's about Spencer and my feelings towards her. I want to tell her how I feel, but I just don't know how to express it and it's keeping me up at night sometimes. The song will fit our relationship perfectly, eventually, when it's done…whenever that may be.

I rip out the page with the lyrics on it. I read over the lyrics I have written down and it gets me thinking. I can't just let that little fight do something to our friendship. I need to clear up everything now so tomorrow isn't weird.

I remove the song book from my lap and put it on my bed, right next to my Bio book. I put the piece of paper in front of me. I step out of my bed and walk towards my bag, but before I dive in to scramble through all of the junk in there, searching for my cell phone, it goes off.

The loud music plays for a few seconds before I capture it and take it out. I read off the name, "Riley." My heart begins to race like crazy. I answer the phone, "Hello?"

The enthusiastic voice speaks, "Hey it's Riley. The girl that saved your life. I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out this Friday." She laughs in a cute way through the phone.

I try not to be aggressive, but I speak in a sharp tone, "Yea I remember you. Uhmm…today's Monday? I'm not sure yet. I gotta check with everyone and my parents to make sure I'm not booked for something." I laugh back.

She answers pleasantly, "That's fine."

I assure her with my words, "Listen, I gotta make a quick call and then I'll get back to you on that offer."

She jokes, "Okay, but I'm holding you to that promise." She snickers through the phone.

I play around, "Then I better get back to you as soon as I can."

She kids, "You're right."

"Ha-ha well then I'll talk to you in a few minutes."

"Alright. Bye."

"Bye."

I hang up the phone and instantly get butterflies in my stomach. Is it prossible to be really nervous and yet excited at the same time for something?

I snap back to reality and start dialing Spencer's home phone. I figure she won't pick her cell if she sees me calling so I'll call her house. Clever, I know.

_A few rings go by and then a young man's voice answers, "Hello." _

This voice doesn't sound familiar to me for some reason. Does Spencer have a boy over?! I'm gonna cut his ba—

I answer like I'm questioning if I have the right phone number or not, "Hey is Spencer available?"

The voice clears its throat, "Who's this?"

"It's Ashley…?"

_The accent becomes enthusiastic, "Oh hey Ash." _

Who the hell am I talking to?! "Who's this?"

"Wow I must've really meant a lot to you those ew months…"

"Glen?"

_He responds quickly, "Of course it is. Who did you think it was?" _

I admit, "I don't know. It sure didn't sound like you. It must be my damn ph—can I talk to Spencer?"

"_Yea sure I gotta find her first," he says simply. I hear Glen yell loudly in the background, "Spencer!" _

_A feminine voice that could remotely resemble Spencer's mom's voice, questions Glen, "hoos dat?" I tune into the conversation intensely. _

_Glen answers, "It's Ashley, Mom."_

_Her words become harder to point out and not because of bad reception, "O Ashleee. Very sweet gurl dat Ahle es."_

She's drunk as a skunk. What is going on over there that I don't know?

Glen persists, "Mom, could you please keep quiet for a few seconds?" A few seonds go by and then he screams again, "Spencer!" He calls one more time after that and when he's not satisfied, he whispers to me, "I think she might've gone out Ashley so why don't you call her cell."

I just agree and go along with everything, "Okay, thanks anyways Glen."

He politely responds, "No problem. Goodnight Ashley."

"Goodnight."

I hang up my phone and think to myself, "Where could Spencer be going this late at night?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Glen and Ashley were chatting…Spencer's POV

I gotta get out of here, even if it means running away for good. I can't take this place anymore. It's been just about three weeks since Mom started rehab and nothing has improved: her behavior, her depression, which may also go with her behavior, and definitely not her alcohol dependency. I have a fear she's gonna become violent if she doesn't get help quick enough.

I stand up front sitting on my bed so long, trying to pester some answers from my head onto my Bio homework, but I'm not getting anywhere. What makes this even worse is I have no one to call for even a small bit of answers. Ashley's the only one I know who has that exact same class and well Ashley was being Ashley so I figured I would give her the night to cool off and then fix everything up in class.

But for now, I need to figure out a way to get out of here. I don't care if it's just for a night, I just need some air from this place and school is just satisfactory for now. I need something more spontaneous.

The only place I could go to without getting caught would be Ashley's, but I don't know whats running through her brain right now with everything that went on in before. I couldn't help that it blew up like it did. All I wanted was an answer. Is that such a bad thing?

Ashley will understand though. She always understands.

I grab a small bag and begin to stuff clothes in there for the night. I scoop all of my books and put them in my backpack. I put my cell with my clothes. I storm out of my room with my backpack and the bag, keeping the lights on because they won't know I'm gone for that much longer.

I tip-toe down the stairs carefully, listening to every sound from everywhere. I hear Mom babbling about something, but I can't make it out clearly. It sounds like Glen might be talking to Mom, but again I can't make out anything clearly.

I quickly wrap around the staircase and slide quickly out the door without making any kind of disturbance.

I run around the other side of the house and I hear a scream through the walls, "Spencer!"

I continue to pace my way down the hill without looking back. I utter, "A little too late, Glen."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ashley's POV

Now what am I supposed to do? Call Spencer? Wait util tomorrow? Call back Riley?

Suddenly, I hear a small chirp-like sound around my window area. I jerk my head to look at my window and wait a few seconds. The sounds comes again, but this time I see a small pebble hit the window and ricochet back.

I walk over to the window, confused as anything, wondering what's causing this. I turn off the lamp so I can see outside better. I open the window and see a familiar body standing two stories beneath me. I ask, "Spencer, what are you doing out here in the night? And in the cold nontheless?"

She sorta demands like a little kid looking for their mom, "I need a place to stay."

I whine a little, "But Spencer…"

She begs, "Ash, please?"

I take in a deep breath and analyze possible consequences quickly: get caught and she goes back home, which might end up bad for her, considering her mom seems in a very bad place right now.

I state, "I'll come down through the basement."

I shut the window and stand up straight. I walk around my room, searching for my jacket. I find one of the jacket's arm's sticking out from underneath my bed. I quickly put it on and squirm down each hall that leads into the basement.

Two minutes later…I can't believe I made it down here, in one piece, and without any questioning. Where is everyone?

I switch on the lights and walk towards the basement door. I unlock it and allow Spencer to come in. I feel an instant cold blast of the outside rush in. It's gotta be negative degrees outside…and Spencer walked all the way over here.

Spencer steps into the house with a few bags and holding her arms and shiver severely. She has barely a Spring jacket on and sneakers. She trudged through all that snow.

I state the obvious, "Spencer look at you. You're freezing. What were you thinking walking all the way over here."

She speaks slowly and shivers between each word, "It's….only…a few…houses…away."

I reach out my hands, indicating to her I will take the bags off her worries. I say, "We need to get you upstairs and warmed up."

She insists, "You're parents…can't know…I'm here." She huffs and puffs profusely, trying to warm her body in some way.

"Let's just get you into my room. We gotta get your body temperature up." I turn off the light behind me and continue to walk towards the stairs.

Two minutes later…Spencer and I are back upstairs in my room. I quickly lock my door and demand, "Take off your shoes and get into my bed." She moves slowly to accomplish each task. I drop her bags on the floor and then walk over to her to remove her shoes for her as she sits down on the bed. I take off her socks as well because they are soaked and would only make her that much colder if left on. I say after I finish removing everything, "Get into the bed and wrap all the blankets around you."

She nods her head, continually breathing heavily in and out. She's been in the house a good three minutes and there's no improvement. I examine her as I ask, "Spencer, how long were you outside?"

"Couldn't have been…that long."

I gotta get her body temperature up, but I don't kn…

I say politely, "Sit up please." She does ask I ask and I climb into bed right behind her. I wrap my arms and legs around her body and snuggle really close to her. "Give me your hands."

She snuggles her hands comfortably in mine. I feel her hands warm instantly in mine and I feel some relief. I lean back so the back of my head is against my headboard. Spencer slowly follows behind and she nestles her head into my chest. "Are you okay Spencer?"

Her breaths becoming less erratic and she eventually is able to speak at a normal rate, "Yea I'm fine now."

I try to explain myself, "I didn't know what to do to help you warm up so I just thought of using my body to help yours recover."

She assures me, "It's alright. I trust you."

A few moments of silence go by and I realize having her in my arms is one of the best feelings I've had my whole life. For some reason, I feel like I'm in power with everything, especially keeping Spencer safe. Whatever is going on over at her house, I know she is safe in my arms.

I apologize, "I'm sorry about how I acted in school today. It was really immature, but I just didn't know how to react in any other way. I wasn't trying to start a fight or anything."

She encourages, "I know you didn't. And I'm sorry about how annoying I was. I should've just respected your choice not to answer the question. Obviously you have a very good reason to not answer it, so I'm going to leave it at that."

My eyes become droopy all of a sudden, as if I hadn't gotten sleep in a couple of days. I utter before completely passing out, "Spencer I'm gonna go to sleep…" Within a few seconds, I'm complletely knocked out and asleep comfortably with Spencer where she should be.

Later that night

I wake up, lying on my right side with my head facing the back of Spencer's head. She's fast asleep right in front of me and her body temperatue actually seems to be warmer than mine.

I always thought Spencer was hot.

I want her a little closer to me because I miss that feeling already. I drape my left hand over her side and stomach. I scoot close enough to her that we're probably considered spooning right now…with clothes fully on.

I use whatever control I have with my right hand and begin to slowly brush Spencer's hair. Her hair is so soft and silky. It feels nice running my hands through it.

My touch must've triggered something in Spencer's brain because she begins to squirm a little in her place. She turns her head a smidge towards me and utters, "Hey Ash."

That's gotta be a good sign. She's not creeped out that I'm practically on top of her or that her hair is currently occupying my hand.

I stop caressing her hair and nuzzle my head into her back, getting ready to fall back asleep.

Spencer speaks out of nowhere, "You know if you said it would be good if I liked you, I would tell you I like you."

Was it just me or was that in gibberish? I ask, "What was that Spence?"

She murmurs, "I like you Ashley. So much."

I pull her hair away from her forehead and say, "I know. That's why you got so frustrated when I wouldn't answer you."

She turns her body over slowly and asks, "If you knew I liked you, why didn't you just tell me you liked me?"

"I wanted to hear it from you first."

She scoffs her voice and turns back over. "That's silly."

I admit, "I didn't want to lose you by scaring you away. If I lose you, I lose everything. I like you so much Spencer that's it practically taking—"

"Over your every thought and move?" Spencer interuppts by finishing the sentence.

"Yea."

She explains, "That's exactly how I feel."

I brush my left hand through her hair and say, "Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?"

Spencer states eagerly, "Are you going to kiss me or did I just wake myself up for nothing?"

I chuckle a little bit and then slowly plant my lips onto Spencer's. I move slowly enough that I don't scare off Spencer. To tell the truth, I want her to control our kissing so I don't do anything she doesn't want.

After a few moments, I take my lips off of her. I pick my head up a little and give Spencer a nice kiss on the check. "Goodnight. School's tomorrow." I turn over that now I have my back to Spencer.

She complains, "Oh really? Do we really have to go? Can't we just lay in bed together all day?"

I exhale, "Oh Spencer I wish we could."

A few moments go by and I'm almost asleep, but then Spencer talks, "But you make me feel safe."

I promise, "I'll keep you safe at school."

That pacifies Spencer for a few more moments but then she suggests, "Will you wrap you arm around me like before? I was so comfortable like that."

That's not a problem. I flip over for déjà vu to occur and I'm back in the same place with my left arm gracefully lying on top of Spencer's stomach.

Spencer offers a couple seconds later, "Hey Aiden's having a party this Friday. You wanna go?"

I agree, "Yea of course." Within five minutes, Spencer is sound asleep again, in my arm. Then of course it hits me like a train, "Shoot I forgot to call Riley."

I startle Spencer a bit, "What Ash?"

I lie, "Oh nothing."

A while goes by and then Spencer breaks the silence, "My mom's an alcoholic."

I alertly say, "Oh man Spencer. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I was scared."

I flip over to look into her eyes. "Don't ever be scared to tell me things like that. Has she ever hit you…?"

She answers honestly, "No."

I'm really upset to hear that. If I would've known sooner, I would've gotten Spencer out of her house more often. I feel like I'm on the verge of tears right now. "Spencer I wish you would've told me sooner."

She tries to make an excuse, "But you know now."

I quickly ask, "What if something happened to you Spencer? Like with your dad? You know how that would make me feel?"

She looks into my eyes, but has no words to respond with.

"I care about you Spencer. I don't want to see you get hurt."

She assures, "I promise I won't. As long as I'm with you, I know I'm safe."

I utter, "I know you're safe too, but you can't be staying here every night. Someone's going to catch us."

"I don't know what to say," Spencer replies.

I answer simply, "I don't either, but we can't worry about it now. We've got school tomorrow." Spencer flips to her previous stance. I let my hand dangle on Spencer's body. Spencer situates her arm into a different position. I stroke her arm with my fingers. I whisper into her ear, "I love you."

She murmurs confidently, "I know. I love you too."

She has no idea how soothing to my ears it is to hear that from her.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***bites nails* was it goood?**


End file.
